Queen Elizabeth had a staggering amount of jewellery that either belonged to her personally or was part of the royal collection, including many magnificent tiaras, necklaces and earrings. Storing these priceless pieces sounds like a bit of a nightmare but the late monarch apparently found an unusual method that worked for her.
On a recent episode of her Catching Up With The Royals podcast, expert and woman&home royal correspondent Emily Andrews responded to a question about where all these items go. Admitting she'd wondered "exactly the same thing" before doing a deep dive into tiaras, she described the set-up that Queen Elizabeth relied on.
"Actually there are these very secure, well what was described to me, anyway, by courtiers at the palace, as wardrobes," she told co-host Reverend Richard Coles.
Emily added, "Often female members were lent pieces of jewellery and tiaras and these then became synonymous with those female members."
She gave the example of Princess Diana frequently wearing the Lover's Knot Tiara which is now closely associated with the Princess of Wales. Kate has stepped out in it around 14 times now and according to the royal expert, once a piece became linked to a particular person, they could be given the honour of a named shelf.
"For instance, the Duchess of Cambridge [now Princess of Wales] had a shelf with her name on it. The Duchess of Cornwall [now Queen Camilla] had a shelf with her name on it," Emily claimed.
The Princess of Wales was the first royal bride of that generation to borrow a tiara for her wedding. In his biography, William & Catherine, Russell Myers claims that it was a "startling gesture" of generosity by Queen Elizabeth and the thought had "not occurred to [Kate] at first".
When she was shown the Cartier Halo Tiara she was said to be "overcome with emotion". There's so much history behind the piece as it was a gift from King George VI to the Queen Mother and they then gave it to the Queen on her 18th birthday.
She'd loaned it to Princess Margaret and Princess Anne and had "given her blessing for Catherine to wear it". According to Myers, "Many believe it to have been a symbolic gesture of not only her fondness for her grandson's bridge but also a recognition of her future status within the family."
As the Princess has only worn it this one time it might not have made her shelf in the wardrobe, but if this is still the storage method for royal jewellery there are at least two more tiaras which probably will be on there. One is the Lover's Knot Tiara and the other is the Lotus Flower Tiara.
In the fifteen years since she married Prince William, Kate has only actually worn five separate tiaras. Queen Camilla also has her favourites, notably the Boucheron Honeycomb Tiara, though she's branched out in the jewellery department recently.
In 2024 and 2025 Her Majesty made her debut wearing the Burmese Ruby Tiara and the emerald-studded Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara respectively, both of which used to belong to Queen Elizabeth personally.
