Kate Middleton, now known as the Princess of Wales, wore clothing and jewellery that was loaded with meaning for Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday 19 September – and her accessories were particularly poignant.
She placed a reassuring hand on his leg.
The royal chose to add a pearl choker, pearl earrings and a four-strand pearl bracelet to her look for the occasion, which paid homage to the Queen's own love of pearl jewellery as well as a royal mourning tradition which dates back over a century.
Often referred to as ‘mourning jewellery’, these colourless gems add a sophisticated but unshowy finishing touch to funereal black and are thought to resemble tears. The Queen, too, was rarely seen without her signature three-strand pearl necklace and wore pearls to Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and King George VI's funerals. But the association between pearl jewellery and mourning actually dates back to Queen Victoria's reign. After the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861, the Queen famously wore black for 40 years, accessorised with pearls.
So it was only fitting that Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore the Queen’s four-string pearl and diamond choker to the late monarch's funeral. Originally gifted to the Queen from Japan in the 1970s, the Queen herself had worn the multi-strand necklace for a state visit to Bangladesh in 1983. She loaned the striking piece to Kate in 2017, having also allowed Princess Diana to wear it in the past. Kate previously borrowed the choker to wear to the Queen and Prince Philip's 70th anniversary celebration in 2017, and later to the Prince’s funeral in 2021. Given the nostalgia associated with this pearl necklace, it's no wonder Kate chose to wear it to pay her respects to the late Queen, pairing the pearl necklace with pearl drop earrings, an Alexander McQueen coat dress and veiled black hat.
It's actually not the first time during the nation's 10 days of mourning that Kate has donned pearls. On 14 September, she wore the Queen’s Pearl and Diamond Leaf Brooch to attend a service at Westminster Hall. On the same day, in a touching tribute to Princess Diana, she wore her late mother-in-law's pearl and diamond earrings.
It's said that after the death of Prince Albert, Victoria chose only to wear 'colourless' jewellery to accessorise her black mourning outfits, mainly pearls, which she felt represented tears. The tradition has been continued for many years, and royal women are regularly seen sporting pearls to funerals and during grieving periods.
What's more, the Queen herself considered her own pearl jewellery part of her 'uniform', and she became known for her three-strand pearl necklace (though she had many others in her collection) – worn to the majority of her working events. In another sweet tribute, the Princess of Wales wore the exact piece to a lunch with commonwealth governors-general on 17 September, ahead of the Queen's funeral.
Kate Middleton is fond of pearl jewellery herself, and has a number of her own pairs of pearl earrings which she wears on rotation. No doubt we'll see her continue to wear pearls for the rest of the royal family's mourning period for the Queen, which will continue until Monday 26 September.
We reflect on the monarch's life before she became Queen.
