The Queen’s Rose Brooches

Brooches depicting various flowers and plants make up a large part of the Queen’s extensive collection. Today, we’ve got a closer look at ten of the Queen’s rose brooches.

The Diamond Wild Rose Brooch

This classic gold and diamond floral brooch has been in the Queen’s jewelry box since at least the 1960s. It features a single wild rose in a surround of leaves, and it’s been worn for garden parties, Commonwealth visits, and even a Christmas broadcast. Above, the Queen wears the brooch during a visit to Fortnum and Mason in London in March 2012.

The Coral Rose Brooch

This unusual Cartier brooch features a pair of coral rosettes, each studded with a diamond in the center of the blossom, accompanied by a pair of pave-set diamond leaves in white gold. Each rosette was carved from a single piece of red coral. The jewel was a gift from the Order of the Liberation in 1990, and the Queen has appropriately often worn it for occasions related to France. In 2004 (pictured above) she wore the brooch in Paris during a state visit celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Entente Cordiale.

The Diamond Rosette Brooch

This petite, button-style diamond rosette brooch has been worn by the Queen since at least 2004. The timing makes it possible that the brooch was part of her immense jewelry inheritance from the late Queen Mother, who passed away in 2002. Above, the Queen wears the rosette at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 2004.

The Tudor Rose Brooch

One of the most important symbols of the British monarchy is the Tudor Rose, representing their combined York and Lancaster heritage. The Queen has been wearing this particular diamond and ruby Tudor Rose Brooch with some regularity since 2012. Some think it might have been a Diamond Jubilee gift, possibly part of a quartet of national symbols given by the Sultan of Oman. Above, the Queen wears the brooch on Christmas Day in December 2014.

The Thistle and Rose Brooch

There are other Tudor Rose jewels in the Queen’s collection, too, including this unique brooch featuring a Tudor Rose and a thistle. It’s a symbol of the Scots Guards. The Queen has worn the brooch in public on a few occasions, including the presentation of new colours to the Scots Guards at Windsor Castle in April 2002 (pictured above).

The Double Rose Brooch

This piece, which features a pair of wild roses rendered in warm-toned gold, is one of the newer brooches from the Queen’s collection. She began wearing it around the time of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and many have presumed that it may have been a gift from that period. In April 2016, pictured above, the Queen wore the brooch to open the Alexandra Gardens Bandstand in Windsor. More recently, she wore the brooch to Princess Beatrice’s wedding in July 2020.

The Vanguard Rose Brooch

This classic diamond brooch, featuring a wild rose among leaves and other blossoms and buds, has been in the Queen’s jewelry collection for nearly 80 years. It was given to her when she launched the HMS Vanguard in December 1944. The Liverpool Daily Post reported that the 18-year-old princess launched “the greatest battleship ever built in the British Isles,” adding that the “great naval occasion was the first important public duty the Princess has carried out alone.” The reporter also noted, “The Princess was given a diamond brooch fashioned as the rose of England for a souvenir. ‘This will always serve to remind me that the first important public duty I ever undertook was a naval occasion,’ she said.” She wore the brooch occasionally in the 1950s (including the appearance above, the presentation of the Princess Elizabeth Cup to Iris Kellet at the International Horse Show in July 1951), but today, the brooch presumably remains in the royal vaults.

The Cartier Rose Clip Brooch

The Queen debuted this petite diamond rose brooch on Day Two of Royal Ascot in June 2016 (pictured above). Royal reporters on the day identified it as a diamond flower clip made by Cartier.

The Centenary Rose Brooch

Queen Elizabeth II commissioned this unique brooch from Collins and Sons as a 100th birthday present for the Queen Mother in 2000. The brooch features a hand-painted Queen Elizabeth Grandiflora Rose on a background of rock crystal, surrounded by a frame set with 100 diamonds. The Queen Mother wore it until her death in 2002, and now it’s a favorite piece of the Queen, especially for springtime events. In June 2016, pictured above, she wore the brooch for Day Four of Royal Ascot.

The Nizam of Hyderabad Rose Brooches

In 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad presented the Queen with a suite of diamond jewelry from Cartier as a wedding present. The set included a tiara, which was later dismantled; these diamond rose brooches are all that remain from the tiara’s previous design. Above, the Queen wears the largest of the brooches in June 2017 for a recreation of Queen Victoria’s first train journey.

The Queen most often wears the largest of the three, but you’ll also occasionally see her wearing the smaller two together as a pair. In the photo above, the Queen wears the smaller brooches during a visit to Gorgie City Farm in Edinburgh in July 2019.