While we’ve already discussed the significance of pearls during royal mourning periods, Kate Middleton’s latest sartorial choice is an even deeper homage to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
On Saturday, September 17, the Princess of Wales joined her husband, Prince William, and other members of the royal family for a lunch reception with dignitaries at Buckingham Palace, wearing a black dress with a three-strand pearl necklace previously owned by Queen Elizabeth. While the pearl and diamond earrings worn by Middleton were also from the queen’s collection, this necklace was a particular favorite.
“She wasn’t interested in material things at all,” the queen’s former assistant private secretary, Sam Cohen, recently told People. “She wore the same pearl necklace every day.”
For comparison, here is a photo of Queen Elizabeth taken just this April during a visit with the president of Switzerland at Windsor Castle.
This necklace isn’t the first significant piece from the queen’s collection that Kate Middleton has worn during the mourning period, though it may be the most sentimental. On September 14, the Princess of Wales took part in the procession of the queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Palace wearing Her Majesty’s diamond and pearl leaf brooch with a pair of pearl drop earrings previously owned by the late Princess Diana.
Unlike the pearl necklace, which was clearly the queen’s go-to item, she reportedly only wore the brooch one time in 1999. Kate Middleton, however, was first seen wearing the piece in 2017.
Obviously, it’s been an emotional week for the royal family since the death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8. During a recent visit with members of the public, the Prince and Princess of Wales spoke candidly with well-wishers. “[Prince William] said how difficult it was yesterday and how it reminded him of his mum’s funeral,” one visitor told The Telegraph. “Catherine said it’s just been such a difficult time for all of them, for the whole family.”
