Queen Camilla adorned her coat with a deeply symbolic brooch for her visit to Aberfan Memorial Garden on Wednesday in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The queen consort wore the Welsh Guards Diamond Leek Brooch, which holds a particular history for the British royal family.
Bundled up in a coat, black gloves and toting an umbrella, Queen Camilla’s latest sentimental jewelry piece held dual meaning. The diamond piece, named for the country, was chosen to honor the victims of the Aberfan disaster on its 60th anniversary.
“The leek is one of Wales’ most recognizable national emblems, so the piece has a clear purpose beyond its decorative value,” Justin Daughters, the managing director of London’s antique jewelry specialists at Berganza, said in a statement provided to WWD.
“That is what makes jewelry like this so interesting: it can communicate something meaningful without needing to be elaborate or oversize.” The brooch, and versions like the one Queen Camilla wore on Wednesday, has been sported by the likes of Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana in the past.
While each design was created for the particular recipient, the Welsh Guards Diamond Leek Brooch clearly holds conventional value for the British royal family.
“There is a wider royal tradition behind wearing leek brooches for engagements connected with Wales, and Camilla’s version sits within that history while remaining distinct from those associated with Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales,” Daughters said. Princess Diana memorably wore her version of the brooch during a 1991 trip to Cardiff, Wales, while Queen Elizabeth II wore her iteration throughout her historic reign.
“These pieces show how a shared emblem can be express through different jewels, each acquiring its own associations through the person who wears it and the events at which it appears.” The brooch, per Daughters, serves as a “reminder that the most interesting jewelry is not necessarily the piece with the largest stones or the highest value; sometimes its significance lies in what it represents and why it has been chosen for that particular moment.”
Wednesday marked the 60th annviersary of the Aberfan disaster, a catastrophic collapse of a National Coal Board spoil tip on Oct. 21, 1966, in the small Welsh mining village of Aberfan. The collapse killed 144 people, including 116 children. It remains the worst mining-related disaster in British history. Queen Camilla, King Charles III and Prince William visited the Aberfan Memorial Garden to honor the victims.