From sparkling tiaras to historic diamond earrings, the Royal Family has access to a priceless collection of jewelry. Queen Elizabeth was especially fond of brooches, and in his new biography of the late monarch, Robert Hardman revealed a hilarious story about one such pearl piece.
In Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. Her Story, the royal biographer wrote that Queen Elizabeth wasn’t fond of people who were overly familiar and would give them “The Look.” Former British prime minister David Cameron once experienced a nearly disastrous incident with the late monarch, as Hardman recalled in the book.
“In 2011, David Cameron was worried that he and his wife, Samantha, might have inadvertently overstepped the mark at the private Downing Street lunch they gave for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate the Duke’s ninetieth birthday,” the author wrote.
Queen Elizabeth, who was visiting the prime minister’s residence for the first time in a decade, was introduced to the Camerons’ then-10-month-old daughter, Florence, at the end of the meal.
“It was a small lunch in the small drawing room on the first floor, just the four of us,” Cameron said. “We brought Florence in at the end as we thought it would be a sweet moment.”
However, the baby decided Queen Elizabeth’s jewelry was hers for the taking, with Cameron recalling his daughter “literally grabbed The Queen’s pearl brooch and was not going to let go. We really had to prise it off her.”
It's unclear which brooch Queen Elizabeth was wearing, but she wore several priceless pearl styles. This includes Queen Victoria's pearl and diamond brooch, which features three dangling pearls hanging from the diamond design—a feature that would be particularly attractive to a baby.
Although the late Queen “took it well” when Florence grabbed her brooch, Cameron admitted that the moment was slightly awkward. He added, “there was that slight look in her eyes of ‘What the hell is this child doing? Why isn’t she in the nursery?’ There was a time and a place for children, but grabbing her brooch was not that place.’”
