On Saturday, March 17th, the Duchess of Cambridge attended her grandfather-in-law Prince Philip’s funeral at St. George’s Chapel. The jewelry she chose to wear (a necklace and a pair of earrings) had a special meaning and ties to Queen Elizabeth and her husband of 73 years. 

The necklace she wore belonged to the Queen. It was the Four Row Japanese Pearl Choker, which she had already previously worn for the Queen and the Duke’s 70th wedding anniversary party back in 2017. The necklace includes four rows of pearls with a diamond clasp in a curved shape in the center. Each side including three rows of diamonds that join at the top and bottom with marquise diamond. The Queen commissioned this from a set of pearls that were presented to ger by the Japanese government. 

Years before Kate Middleton wore it, the Queen had loaned it to Princess Diana in 1982. She wore it during a state visit to the Netherlands. Kate and Diana are the only two members of the family the Queen has loaned the necklace to. 

Another part of Kate’s meaningful jewelry selection was her earrings. She wore the Queen’s Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings. They are made from pearls that were gifted to the Queen at the event of her wedding to Prince Philip back in 1947. The earrings contain a large round diamond with a smaller circle diamond hanging below it. From there, three baguette diamonds hang, with three more small diamonds making way to the dangling pearl. 

The Duchess has worn the Bahrain Pearl Earrings on several occasions, including the Remembrance Day service in 2016, the same way the Queen did the year before that. Princess Diana also wore the earrings in the past, it was on the same occasion that she wore the Four Row Japanese Choker, pairing both pieces the same way Kate did. The earrings have also been loaned to Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who is married to Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.