Books, Birkins and Beauty: brooch

First of all, let me say a big Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating today!
We're back with our traditional Christmas Day post here at Books, Birkins & Beauty (you can read about last year's Christmas here), for a recap of what the Royals wore!

Sandringham.

The Queen is, of course, spending the holidays as usual at Sandringham with her family, while this year is the first Christmas the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (and Prince George!) get to spend in the nearby, newly-redecorated Anmer Hall.

Anmer Hall.

After an early morning church outing for Holy Communion, the Royal Family were back at St Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate for the Christmas morning service at 11am.

The Queen, wrapped up warm in a fur coat against the early morning chill, arrives at St Mary Magdalene Church for Holy Communion.

The Royals arriving.

The Queen looked striking in a festive fuchsia ensamble with magenta accents by Angela Kelly, and completed her look with a three-strand pearl necklace, Queen Mary's diamond and pearl earrings and a diamond and coloured stones (and enamel?) brooch in the shape of the Tudor Rose:

Close up of the Tudor Rose brooch from when the Queen wore it to the

Cartier Polo Cup on 15 June 2014.

The Duchess of Cambridge was in a brown outfit, sporting a new and as yet unidentified calf-lenght coat, her "Betty Boop" hat by John Lock & Co. and double leaf gold earrings by Catherine Zoraida:

I really must say, if someone manages to get an ID for this scarf I'd be rushing out to get one, as I absolutely love it!!

Catherine with her father-in-law the Prince of Wales.

The Duchess of Cornwall was sadly unable to attend the service as she's suffering from a bad back. Also absent were Zara and Mike Tindall. Other royal ladies present included Princesses Beatrice in a Valentino striped coat:

And Eugenie:

The Countess of Wessex:

With her daughter Lady Louise:

The Princess Royal, looking very festive in red:

And her daughter-in-law Autumn Phillips:

Of course, today was also the day of the Queen's Christmas Broadcast. This year's theme was "Reconciliation", and the Queen had words of praise for medics fighting Ebola in West Africa, and remembered her and Prince Philip's visit to the Field of Remembrance at the Tower of London in October. You can view a video of the broadcast here.

The Queen wore a lilac dress by Angela Kelly, previously worn on 2 May 2012 on a visit to Somerset and Devon as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK and later that same year on Day 4 of the Ascot races.

Previously paired with her amethyst bouquet brooch, the Queen accessorised the dress for today's appearance with the striking Duchess of Cambridge pearl and diamond brooch (more on the brooch in my blog post here).

I'll leave you for now, wishing you all once again a very happy Christmas!

During the past three days a number of world leaders gathered in Normandy to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing, which took place on 6 June 1944.
Among those present, where the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the British Royal Family.
Her Majesty has taken part in many previous commemorations. Below at the 40th anniversary, in 1984, with US President Ronald Reagan:

In 1994:

And in 2004:

During this year's three-day State visit, we saw the Queen don an impressive array of gorgeous outfits - let's have a closer look at them, and at the jewels she accesorized them with!

Departing St Pancras International station in London on Thursday, 5 June, on her way to Paris, the Queen wore a white coat and a navy hat with white bow, complemented by her sapphire-and-diamond grapes brooch, a piece she inherited from the Queen Mother:

Upon arrival at the Gare du Nord in Paris, Her Majesty had swapped her white coat for a white jacket with black trimming and pewter-coloured sequins, to match her dress, and matching hat:

The outfit was completed with the addition of a gold and diamond brooch in the shape of a spray of sorghum (a type of millet), a gift to Her Majesty from the President of Botswana in 2007, when the Queen led the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Kampala, Uganda:

Then it was time for another change of outfit, when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were received by French President Hollande at the Arc de Triomphe, where a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior took place. The Queen looked pretty in a pastel pink, Chanel-style tweed suit with matching hat (a rather peculiar, sort of inverted-toadstool kind of thing, the tell the truth...), accessorized with her Williamson diamond brooch:

As she does only on special occasions (she did so at the weddings of both Prince William and Zara Phillips), the Queen completed her outfit with cream-coloured accessories: her trademark Launer handbag and a pair of shoes with a cute bow!

Probably one of the most easily recognizable brooches in Her Majesty's collection, this stunning sparkler was made by Cartier in 1953 and features the Williamson pink diamond, weighing a rather impressive 23.6 carats and considered the finest pink diamond ever discovered. The stone was a wedding gift to Princess Elizabeth from Canadian geologist Dr Williamson: it was then cut and set as the centrepiece of a new platinum brooch, designed by Frederick Mew of Cartier in 1953.

The Queen has notably worn the brooch at the weddings of the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer and of Prince Edward.

It was also one of the pieces in the Queen's collection on show at the "Cartier - Style and History" exhibition held in Paris earlier this year (for my post on the exhibition, see here).

Later in the day, the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, attended a Queen's Birthday Garden Party hosted by Sir Peter Ricketts, Her Majesty's Ambassador to the French Republic.

For this occasion, the Queen donned a white dress many will recall she first wore for the Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant in June 2012, accessorized with a piece I'm not familiar with, a floral brooch in what appears to be a yellow, rose and white gold setting (most probably with diamonds).

The following day, 6 June, Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh departed Paris for Normandy, where they attended the Service of Remembrance at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Bayeux and met veterans. Afterwards, it was time for a lunch for Heads of State and Government given by the President of the French Republic at the Château de Bénouville and then, in the afternoon, for the actual D-Day commemoration at Sword Beach (Ouistreham).

For the day's events, the Queen chose a chartreuse green coat and flower printed dress by Stuart Parvin, with a flower embellished hat in a matchin shade of green by Rachel Trevor Morgan.

The addition of the impressive Queen Victoria's Fringe brooch completed the outfit.

The Fringe brooch is a piece attributed to Garrard & Co., made in 1856 for Queen Victoria using diamonds she had received as a gift from the Sultan of Turkey. It is a personal jewel, not an heirloom of the crown, and as such it has been passed through the generations, first to Queen Alexandra, then to Queen Mary, to the Queen Mother (who wore it at her daughter's coronation in 1953) and thence to the Queen at the Queen Mother's death in 2002.

In the evening, it was time for a State banquet in Her Majesty's honour, given by President Hollande at the Elysée Palace.

For this evening engagement, a black tie affair, the Queen wore a white-and-silver sequinned evening gown, with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara and the Coronation necklace and earrings. The red riband of the Order of the Legion of Honour was held in place with another brooch from the Queen Mother's collection, in the shape of a posy of ruby and diamond stylized flowers tied with a diamond bow (the Queen was appointed Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour in 1948, when still Princess Elizabeth).

The look was set off with dainty T-bar evening silver shoes and a silver Launer evening bag:

This morning, 7 June, there was time for a couple of other engagements, before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh departed for London to attend the Epsom Derby this afternoon - first the couple paid a visit to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, at the Hotel de Ville. Afterwards, they visited the
Marché aux Fleurs, Paris' historic flower market, which was dedicated to Her Majesty.

The Queen was in a pale heather boucle suit with lace trim and matching hat and a brooch in the shape (quite appropriately!) of a spray of six diamond flowers: