The Queen’s anniversary brooch is more sentimental than you think

(Image credit: Tim Graham)

You might have missed it, with everything happening in the world right now, but Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrated a major milestone at the end of November: their 73rd wedding anniversary.

As is custom with such events, the pair released an official portrait taken at Windsor Palace, where they have been isolating since the beginning of the pandemic - though they did have a brief stint at Sandringham in between the lockdowns.

A photo posted by on

In the portrait, the Queen wears one of her signature colours, blue, in the form of a powder blue dress, which she's accessorised with a pearl necklace and her sapphire and diamond brooch, known as the Chrysanthemum brooch for its floral shape.

The piece of jewellery is rather sentimental as she famously wore it for a series of portraits with her then new husband Prince Philip in 1947, on their honeymoon at Broadlands. The pair even recreated those shots for their 60th wedding anniversary at the same location (pictured above), in which the Queen also wore the brooch.

It has served her well during her lifetime, having been worn at several official events as well as portraits, such as the October 1950 family photo for baby Princess Anne's christening.

As for the origins of the brooch, it is thought to have been a present to the Princess before she ascended the throne, received when she launched an oil tanker in 1946.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.