Royal Brooches and Their Hidden Meanings

Few pieces of jewellery say so much while making so little fuss. Royal brooches have long been the quiet language of the British royal women — a way to honour a host, mark an anniversary or simply carry a loved one close. Pinned at the shoulder, they catch the light, and the camera, without ever needing to be explained.

Queen Elizabeth II was the great mistress of the form. Over seven decades she built one of the most storied collections in the world, and she wore it with intention: a maple leaf for Canada, a sapphire snowflake for a jubilee, a diamond chip with a granny’s affectionate nickname. Each choice was a small message, beautifully told.

This is a look at the most celebrated royal brooches and the histories pinned to them — and at the gentle craft that came to be known as “brooch diplomacy”.

Granny’s Chips, the most precious of all

The brooch the late Queen called “Granny’s Chips” carries one of the great royal jokes. It is set with the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV diamonds — a pear-shaped drop of 94.4 metric carats and a cushion-shaped stone of 63.6 — both cut from the colossal Cullinan Diamond and mounted for Queen Mary in 1911. They passed to her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953.

The nickname is pure dry wit. The stones are “chips” off the original Cullinan, and they came from “Granny” — Queen Mary. The Queen was reportedly overheard using the phrase on a 1958 visit to the Asscher firm in the Netherlands, where the great diamond had been cut; she is said to have unpinned the brooch so it could be admired up close. For an object often described as the most valuable brooch in the world, it is a wonderfully down-to-earth name — a reminder that even a monarch can wear a family heirloom from her grandmother.

What makes the brooch so beloved is precisely that everyday warmth. The Cullinan stones are part of the same legendary rough that yielded gems now set in the Sovereign’s Sceptre and the Imperial State Crown, so this is jewellery of genuinely national importance. Yet the Queen wore it as a granny’s keepsake, pinning history to her coat for a garden party or a portrait. It is the perfect emblem of how the royal women treat their finest pieces: with reverence for the story, and a smile for the family behind it.

The Williamson pink, a wedding gift made into a flower

Among the loveliest royal brooches is the Williamson diamond brooch, built around an exceptional pink diamond. The rough stone, around 54 carats, was discovered at the Williamson mine in Tanganyika in 1947 and given to Princess Elizabeth as a wedding present by the Canadian geologist Dr John Williamson, who owned the mine.

The diamond was cut to a round brilliant of roughly 23 carats, but it waited several years for its proper setting. In 1952 Cartier designed the brooch — a jonquil-shaped flower, its pink centre framed by petals, leaves and a stalk of white diamonds, with Williamson himself supplying further stones for the surround. The flower-head measures around eleven centimetres across, a generous span of brilliant-cut, baguette and marquise diamonds arranged so the pink heart seems to glow.

The result is among the most admired pieces in the Royal Collection, and one the Queen reserved for special occasions across her reign. It is a brooch that turns an extraordinary gift into something tender: a single flower, worn at the shoulder, blooming out of a young bride’s wedding year. That a pink diamond of such rarity should be set not as a cold showpiece but as a sprig of garden flora says everything about the British royal taste — beauty worn lightly, and always with a story to tell.

The Maple Leaf brooch, worn with love for Canada

Some brooches belong, in spirit, to a place. The diamond Maple Leaf brooch belongs to Canada. Made by Asprey in diamonds set in platinum and shaped as a sugar-maple leaf, it was given by King George VI to his wife, Queen Elizabeth — later the Queen Mother — to mark their 1939 royal tour of Canada.

Since then it has crossed the Atlantic again and again, loaned among royal women for Canadian visits. The Queen Mother lent it to the young Princess Elizabeth for her 1951 tour. Decades later, in 2011, Queen Elizabeth II lent it to Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, who pinned it on as she stepped off the plane in Ottawa on her first overseas tour as a married royal. A leaf of diamonds, worn the moment a new royal touched Canadian soil — it is brooch diplomacy at its warmest.

The Sapphire Jubilee snowflake

The newest of the famous brooches arrived to mark a milestone no British monarch had reached before. In 2017 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee — 65 years on the throne, a first in British history. To honour both the jubilee and the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation, she received a striking brooch shaped as a snowflake, designed around the form of the North Star and set with 48 sapphires in many shades of blue.

It is a brooch that braids two meanings into one jewel: the sapphire for the jubilee, the snowflake for Canada, the whole thing a gift exchanged in friendship between the Crown and a Commonwealth nation she had visited more than twenty times. There is a quiet poetry to its design, too — a star to steer by, rendered in the blue of a milestone year — and it suited a monarch who had become, by then, a fixed point in many lives. The Queen wore it often in her final years, and it became one of her signatures — proof that, even deep into her reign, she was still adding fresh chapters to her collection.

Sapphires kept close, from a honeymoon

Not every meaningful brooch is grand. One of the Queen’s most personal pieces was the Sapphire Chrysanthemum brooch, a flower of diamond petals around a sapphire heart. It was given to her as Princess Elizabeth in 1946, after she launched a ship — but its place in her affections came a little later.

She wore it during her 1947 honeymoon at Broadlands, days after her wedding to Prince Philip, in one of the most tender photographs of the young couple. Sixty years on, when the pair recreated that honeymoon portrait for their diamond wedding anniversary, the same brooch was pinned to her coat. Few jewels can have been worn with such continuity of feeling — a single sapphire flower bookending six decades of marriage, quietly worn on both occasions because it mattered.

The art of brooch diplomacy

Put these stories together and a pattern emerges. A maple leaf for Canada, a snowflake of sapphires for a Commonwealth anniversary, a flower from a wedding year worn for an anniversary — the Queen rarely pinned on a brooch by accident. Choosing a jewel to honour the host country, the occasion or a personal bond became a recognised part of royal diplomacy, conducted entirely without words.

It could be charmingly pointed, too. During a 2019 US state visit, royal-watchers delighted in noting that the Queen wore, on different days, a brooch the Obamas had given her and the very Sapphire Jubilee snowflake from Canada — and the internet had great fun reading meaning into the choices. Whether or not anything was intended, the episode showed how closely the world now watches what a royal woman pins to her shoulder. A brooch, it turns out, can speak volumes while saying nothing at all.

Why brooches still enchant us

There is something irresistible about a jewel that doubles as a message. A brooch is small enough to be missed and bright enough to be photographed, personal enough to be a gift and public enough to be a statement. In the hands of Queen Elizabeth II it became a kind of quiet eloquence — heritage, affection and courtesy, all caught in a few carats of light.

That is the real magic of the royal brooch: the stone is only ever half the story. The rest is who gave it, where it was worn and what it was meant to say. Browse our Royal Style & Fashion stories to discover more of the looks and jewels that capture the world’s attention.

Frequently asked questions

What is the “Granny’s Chips” brooch?

It is the brooch set with the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV diamonds, both cut from the great Cullinan Diamond and mounted for Queen Mary in 1911. Queen Elizabeth II nicknamed it “Granny’s Chips” — “chips” from the original stone, inherited from her grandmother, Queen Mary.

How did the Queen get the Williamson pink diamond?

The pink diamond was a wedding gift to Princess Elizabeth in 1947 from the Canadian geologist Dr John Williamson, whose mine in Tanganyika produced it. Cartier later set it as the centre of a jonquil-flower brooch in 1952.

What is the Maple Leaf brooch?

It is a diamond-and-platinum brooch shaped as a sugar-maple leaf, made by Asprey and given by King George VI to the future Queen Mother for the 1939 royal tour of Canada. It has since been worn by several royal women on Canadian visits.

Did Catherine wear the Maple Leaf brooch?

Yes. Queen Elizabeth II lent the brooch to Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, for her first royal tour of Canada in 2011, and she wore it as she arrived in Ottawa.

What is the Sapphire Jubilee brooch?

It is a snowflake-shaped brooch set with 48 sapphires, given to Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 to mark her Sapphire Jubilee — 65 years on the throne — and the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation.

What is brooch diplomacy?

Brooch diplomacy is the practice of choosing a brooch to honour a host country, occasion or personal connection — a quiet, wordless gesture of courtesy. Queen Elizabeth II was especially known for it, from maple leaves in Canada to commemorative jubilee jewels.

Where can the public see these royal brooches?

Many royal jewels are part of the Royal Collection and appear in exhibitions, such as displays at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. The Royal Collection Trust publishes details of pieces including the Cullinan and Williamson brooches.

Details of the royal brooches above are drawn from the Royal Collection Trust (rct.uk) and widely published, reputable accounts. Some specifics — carat weights, dates and the precise wording of quotations such as “Granny’s Chips” — vary slightly between sources and are reported as commonly recorded.