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November babies are blessed with a vivid birthstone that shines in several shades, including deep orange and bright yellow. Today, we’ve got a closer look at a diamond and topaz brooch from the collection of the Duchess of Cornwall.

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The brooch’s single appearance so far came more than a decade ago: on June 20, 2007, which was the second day of that year’s Royal Ascot races.

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The brooch features an elaborate diamond border surrounding a large smoky orange topaz. It’s such a large piece that I’ve often wondered whether it might originally have been meant to be a devant de corsage, a large stomacher ornament that was often part of a nineteenth-century parure of jewels.

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Here’s a better side-angle view of the brooch. The diamond border features curling ribbons and trailing ivy leaves. In 2006 and 2007, Camilla wore several jewels from the collection of the late Queen Mother, and many have naturally speculated that this brooch was also from her jewelry box. We also know, though, that Charles has been known to purchase jewels for Camilla at auction. To my knowledge, no provenance information for this brooch has ever been firmly established.

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The size of this brooch certainly makes it more difficult to wear than most, but I’d absolutely love to see it appear once more in public. Its size and intricacy would make it perfectly suited for a gala appearance!

Queen Elizabeth II wears the Women of Hampshire Brooch at the farewell ceremony during the Dutch state visit, October 2018 (CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/AFP/Getty Images)

Queen Mary’s wedding presents included a number of important pieces of jewelry. We talk a whole lot about the magnificent tiaras that she received, but the gifts included other pieces as well. Today, we’re looking at a lovely smaller piece from the collection of gifts: the Women of Hampshire Brooch.

Mary wears the brooch on her order sash for a portrait taken in Melbourne, May 1901

The brooch was one of the gifts given to Mary by a committee of women. This time, the group was made of women who lived in the county of Hampshire. The committee was chaired by an important aristocratic lady: Elizabeth Wellesley, the Dowager Duchess of Wellington.

Elizabeth Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington, ca. 1861 (Wikimedia Commons)

Elizabeth was the daughter of a marquess and the daughter-in-law of the famous 1st Duke of Wellington, the hero of the Battle of Waterloo. She also served as Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes, so she was used to moving in royal circles. The committee selected a piece of diamond and pearl jewelry with a floral motif from Garrard for the present.

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Initially, the piece was designed to be worn as a pendant on a necklace, but Mary later had it converted so that it could be worn as a brooch. It has a distinctive shape with three pendant stones: two pear-shaped diamonds and a large pear-shaped pearl.

Queen Mary wears the brooch at Princess Anne’s christening

Mary often wore her brooches, including this one, pinned at her throat. That’s precisely how she wore it for the christening of her great-granddaughter, the Princess Royal, in 1950.

Queen Elizabeth II wears the brooch for a reception at Buckingham Palace, July 2010 (Anthony Devlin/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The brooch was among the jewels inherited by the present Queen when her grandmother, Queen Mary, died in 1953. Since then, it’s become part of the Queen’s daytime brooch rota, popping up now and again at various royal engagements.

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We’ve talked a lot lately about the generous gifts of jewels that Brits made to the late Queen Mother. Today’s brooch is another piece of that bejeweled category — The James Bow Brooch, which was presented to Elizabeth by someone very close to her.

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The brooch, which features a diamond ribbon with a diamond quatrefoil element in the center of the bow, was one of the gifts given to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon when she married the Duke of York in 1923. She received the brooch from someone particularly close to her: one of her godmothers, Mary Venetia James. Born Venetia Cavendish-Bentinck, she was a cousin of Elizabeth’s mother, the Countess of Strathmore. Venetia married the famous racehorse owner Arthur James in 1885, and their mutual love of horses brought them into the circle of King Edward VII. (Venetia’s name is sometimes included in lists of Bertie’s mistresses.) In the display of Elizabeth’s wedding gifts, the brooch was placed beside a label bearing the name of “Mrs. Arthur James.”

As a side note: this diamond bow wasn’t the only jewel that Venetia gave to the Queen Mother. When she died in 1948, the Guardian quoted from her will: “To my goddaughter her Majesty Queen Elizabeth my gold chain with diamond drops surmounted by rubies and large diamond brooch (Japanese design with large stone in the middle).” Venetia sensibly left her grand paintings, including pieces by Titian and Gainsborough, to the National Gallery, and she bequeathed a collection of furniture and art objects to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

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The Queen Mother kept and wore her godmother’s wedding gift for her entire life. In November 1998, at the age of 98, she wore the brooch for a visit to the Royal British Legion’s Field of Remembrance in London.

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Here’s another angle on the brooch from this particular event. At this point, the brooch had been in her jewelry box for a full 75 years. Three quarters of a century!

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The Queen Mother died in 2002, leaving all of her jewelry to her daughter, the present Queen. But a collection of her pieces were set aside, and in 2005, the new Duchess of Cornwall began wearing them in public. For Remembrance Sunday that year, she wore the bow brooch as she watched the solemn Cenotaph ceremony.

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Camilla has generally worn the brooch with dark colors, but on at least one occasion, she strayed from that trend. During her November 2006 visit to Pakistan, she wore the brooch (and a poppy) against a vividly patterned jacket.

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But perhaps the most important outing for the brooch came earlier that year. In September 2006, Camilla chose the brooch for a memorial service honoring her beloved father, the late Bruce Shand, at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge. On that occasion, she paired the brooch with a pearl necklace with an art deco clasp, also from the collection of the Queen Mother.