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The Queen’s collection of amethyst jewels is much smaller than her collections of many other gemstones, but the pieces she does have are particularly lovely and interesting. Today, we’re looking at a pair of brooches that go together: her Amethyst Floral Brooches.

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The set includes two coordinating brooches featuring amethysts and diamonds in a floral setting made of yellow gold. The pieces are quite similar but not the same; they feature the same design elements arranged differently. One of the brooches features a pair of larger pear-shaped amethysts at the top, while the other has one pear-shaped amethyst and one round amethyst at the top of the piece.

To my knowledge, the palace has never revealed any provenance information about the brooches. We do know, however, that the Queen has had them in her collection since at least the early 1990s. One early appearance came in 1993, when she wore one of the brooches for her annual Christmas Message. Interestingly, although the pieces are a coordinating pair, the Queen only ever wears them one at a time.

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The brooches have been particular favorites of the Queen over the past decade or so. In her Diamond Jubilee year, she often wore one of them for engagements with a lavender-colored ensemble. Above, she wears one of the brooches for a visit to Nine Springs Park in Yeovil during her Diamond Jubilee Tour in May 2012.

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She repeated the same outfit and brooch about a month later, wearing it for the fourth day of Royal Ascot in June 2012.

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She pinned one of the brooches to a vivid purple outfit for a Rugby World Cup reception at Buckingham Palace in October 2015.

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She often wears one of the brooches with one ensemble in particular: a dark purple coat and hat, which is decorated with white and purple flowers. Above, she pairs the brooch with the outfit for the 70th anniversary of the International Maritime Organization in London in March 2018.

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She wore the same combination for the official welcome ceremony during the Dutch state visit in October 2018…

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…and for a more somber event in April 2017: a memorial service in honor of her former brother-in-law, the late Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.

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And in March 2019, she chose the brooch for another sentimental occasion: a reception to mark the 50th anniversary of the Prince of Wales’s investiture.

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The snow just keeps falling here at The Court Jeweller HQ, and I’m already wishing for spring! At least I can enjoy gorgeous flowers right now in jewelry form, including the Queen’s beautiful Diamond Wild Rose Brooch.

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The brooch features a single wild rose with foliage, made of diamonds set in bright yellow gold. We don’t know much of anything about the piece’s history, but it’s been in the Queen’s jewelry box since at least the late 1960s. The piece is almost certainly one of the “two different diamond rose sprays set in gold” described by Leslie Field in her 1987 survey of the HM’s collection, The Queen’s Jewels.

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One of the earliest known appearances of the brooch came in November 1967, during the state visit to Malta by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. She wore the brooch to tour the new site of the Royal University of Malta during the visit.

In December 1983, the Queen chose the brooch for one of her most important annual appearances: her Christmas Message.

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The brooch has continued to make sporadic appearances on the monarch in more recent years. She wore the brooch on a golden jacket for a reception honoring the Great Britain Paralympic team at Buckingham Palace in February 2009.

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Two years later, in June 2011, she chose the brooch for lunch with the Camerons at 10 Downing Street.

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Here’s a closer view of the brooch during the visit, which was a celebration of the 90th birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh.

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The Queen often goes through phases, wearing brooch several times in a year or two and then putting it away for a while. That happened with the wild rose brooch in 2011-2012, where it made several prominent appearances at home and abroad. In October 2011, HM wore the brooch for a luncheon in Canberra during a ten-day tour of Australia. For the luncheon, she wore the brooch on the sunny yellow outfit she’d worn earlier that spring for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

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The Duchess herself was present for the brooch’s next major public outing: a March 2012 visit to commemorate the refurbishment of the Fortnum and Mason store in Piccadilly. The Queen was accompanied by the Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge for her visit to the famous food hall.

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For the Fortnum and Mason visit, the Queen wore the brooch on a light blue jacket with golden trimmings. The gold setting of the brooch coordinated nicely with the jacket’s buttons, and the light blue background allowed the details of the rose to show nicely.

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One of the Queen’s most recent appearances in the brooch came in May 2012, when she wore the jewel with a light pink coat and hat for a garden party at Buckingham Palace.

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It’s been nearly a decade since we’ve gotten a good look at the Diamond Wild Rose Brooch in public, and I’m hoping for another outing for the beautiful jewel soon!

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Some royal brooches are very event or outfit specific, while others can be worn for a wide range of occasions and with lots of different ensembles. Today’s brooch, the Pearl Trefoil, definitely falls into the second category.

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We don’t know much about the provenance of the brooch. It likely entered the Queen’s jewelry collection some time in the 1980s, as that’s when she began wearing it in public. Leslie Field describes the brooch as “a large diamond quatrefoil set with pearls having a pearl and diamond cluster in the centre,” but the brooch is definitely a trefoil, with two ribbon scrolls at the base. Above, you’ll see an early appearance of the brooch during Anzac Day ceremonies in Hobart in April 1988.

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The brooch’s design is intricate and delicate, making it easy to pair with lots of colors and styles. Unfortunately, that also meant that it disappears against the busy background of many of the Queen’s printed dresses from the ’80s and ’90s, as you’ll see in the photo above, taken at the closing ceremony of the 14th Commonwealth Games in Auckland in February 1990.

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The brooch looks much smarter against a solid background, like the pink coat worn for by the Queen for a visit to the Blois city hall during her June 1992 visit to France.

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The brooch quickly became a staple in the Queen’s daytime jewelry wardrobe, worn for a variety of occasions. In March 1995, she wore it while delivering remarks during a speech at Vista University in the New Brighton township of Port Elizabeth.

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The brooch has also made numerous high profile foreign and Commonwealth visits. During her state visit to India in October 1997, she wore the brooch for a ceremonial welcome at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi.

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And in March 2006, she chose the brooch for her arrival at Melbourne Airport during a five-day visit to Australia.

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During the last twenty years, the brooch has become one of the Queen’s very favorite daytime jewels. Here, in March 2001, she wears it for a visit to Pimlico Library in London.

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And in February 2002, she wore the brooch for an engagement, a visit to the Norfolk Police Head Quarters in Wymondham, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

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The design of the brooch really popped against the vibrant blue ensemble she wore for a tour of Sheridan College during her Golden Jubilee tour of Canada in October 2002.

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The brooch has also been one of the Queen’s frequent choices for holiday celebrations, including Easter at Windsor (including the 2003 service, pictured above) and several Christmas broadcasts.

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In July 2005, the Queen chose the brooch for Cartier International Day at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park.

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The brooch also often accompanies the Queen to one of her favorite outings: visits to the races. In June 2007, she wore the brooch to present the Ascot Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

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In April 2007, she wore it for a very rainy day at Newbury racecourse.

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These days, the Queen often wears the brooch for regular daytime engagements, usually pinned to a brightly-colored coat that shows off the brooch’s details. This sky blue jacket was an especially pleasant background for the brooch as the Queen opened the new BBC Broadcasting House in London in July 2013.

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The brooch gleamed against an ensemble the color of orange sherbet during the naming ceremony for the cruise ship Britannia at Ocean Cruise Terminal in Southampton in March 2015.

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I expect that we’ll continue to see this brooch regularly for the forseeable future, as the Queen often wears it lately for events like audiences at the palace and outings to church.