LONDON — The King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace is set to make history next summer with the first exhibition to explore 500 years of British royal jewelry.
“Royal Jewellery: From Coronations to Keepsakes” will open in June, 2027 and bring together more than 300 pieces from the 16th century to the present day, around two-thirds of which will be on display for the first time.
Jewelry worn by monarchs from Henry VIII and Charles II to Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II will be shown alongside paintings, designs and documents from the Royal Collection and Royal Archives, telling stories of politics, diplomacy, identity, faith, grief and love across the centuries.
The exhibition will run for nine months and will be accompanied by a book of the same name, which will be the first comprehensive study of the British royal jewelry collection ever published.
Caroline de Guitaut and Kathryn Jones, cocurators of the exhibition, said the show will bring together “some of the most important and spectacular royal jewels in British history. Together, they have borne witness to the defining moments of royal lives, and offer a deeply personal insight into the individuals and relationships that have shaped the monarchy across generations.”
The jewelry on display will range from work by early royal goldsmiths to designs by Garrard & Co., Cartier, Boucheron and Fabergé. The exhibition will also explore the evolution of royal jewelry and its continuing role in shaping the image of monarchy today.
While the Crown Jewels will not feature in the exhibition and will remain on show at the Tower of London, visitors will be able to see a host of jewels made for coronations and major royal occasions.
Among them are the Diamond Diadem, made for King George IV’s coronation and later immortalized in coins, banknotes and stamps bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth II. There is also Queen Victoria’s Small Diamond Crown, so closely associated with the monarch that it was placed on her coffin during her lying in state.
There will also be a display exploring jewelry associated with every queen and consort from Queen Charlotte to Queen Elizabeth II, tracing changing fashions from Georgian splendor and Victorian sentimentality to sleek Art Deco styles and bold midcentury designs.
Among the items on show for the first time will be Queen Charlotte’s set of garnet jewels, newly connected to the Queen through recent research; Queen Alexandra’s articulated serpent bracelet, set with diamonds and a black pearl; a Fabergé aquamarine and diamond pendant given to the future Queen Elizabeth II by her grandmother Queen Mary, and the Greville emerald and diamond necklace, part of Dame Margaret Greville’s bequest to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
On a more intimate level, there will also be jewels and keepsakes associated with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, tracing their lives from courtship and marriage to parenthood and bereavement.
Highlights include Victoria’s first ring, worn in infancy; the diamond brooch Albert gave her on the eve of their wedding; a bracelet set with pebbles collected on their first journey alone together; a thistle brooch featuring their eldest daughter’s first milk tooth, removed by Albert himself, and Victoria’s mourning ring, set with Albert’s photograph and their intertwined cyphers.
The display will also feature jewelry linked to the cult of King Charles I following his execution, including the cufflinks he is said to have worn on the scaffold and later handed to his loyal supporters. They will be on show in public for the first time.