Kate Middleton Wears Queen Elizabeth's Jewelry at Monarch's Funeral
Kate Middleton is honoring Queen Elizabeth II with her choice of jewelry. The newly-dubbed Princess of Wales paid tribute to her late grandmother-in-law Monday at the Queen's funeral proceedings by wearing two pieces of jewelry that had once belonged to the long-reigning monarch, sporting the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings and a four-strand pearl choker with center diamond clasp from the Queen's collection, PEOPLE confirmed.
Queen Elizabeth is remembered for wearing the pearl choker for a state banquet in Bangladesh in 1983, and the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings were a wedding gift to the Queen in 1947, according to The Court Jeweller. Kate had previously worn the same choker and earrings for the 2021 funeral of Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Princess also was seen wearing the earrings recently at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June and has borrowed them a number of times throughout the years.
Princess Kate has been making reference to the Queen's long life through her jewelry choices at a number of events since her death on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. Tuesday, Kate was seen wearing a pair of pearl and diamond earrings that once belonged to her grandmother-in-law at the service marking the arrival of the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall. These earrings were initially worn by the Queen to her Silver Jubilee in 1977, and Kate was first spotted wearing them when she went to the Netherlands for her first solo foreign trip in October 2016, according to The Court Jeweller.
She has since been spotted wearing those same earrings three more times in the last week during various ceremonial appearances. A royal source also confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that Kate sported one of the Queen's signature pieces during Saturday's Buckingham Palace lunch receptions, a three-strand pearl necklace. Princess Catherine also made sure to pay tribute to the late Queen, sporting the diamond and pearl leaf brooch the monarch first wore during a trip to South Korea in 1999 during Wednesday's Westminster Hall service.
The Queen will be put to rest Monday in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. She will be buried beside her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, and near her sister, Princess Margaret, and parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.