Queen Elizabeth passed away on September 8, and while many titles have already modified hands, there are moreover plenty of material affects belonging to the late monarch that should be shared amongst her family. Much of her famous jewelry belongs to the crown and may’t be distributed permanently to anybody, but her private jewelry collection is one other matter.
A royal expert named Katie Nicholl spoke with Entertainment Tonight about who will get what and when.
Will Camilla the Queen Consort receive Elizabeth’s jewels?
“There may be a hierarchy in all of this,” Nicholl said. “The Queen Consort, really, gets first selection of the queen’s jewelry. And after that’s Princess of Wales, in fact, Kate [Middleton]. The Duchess of Sussex, I’m sure, will are available in for some jewelry in some unspecified time in the future, but she is far further down the pecking order.”
What’s the difference between the Queen’s private jewels and the crown jewels?
The most important technical difference is that the crown jewels “belong to the nation” slightly than the individuals who wear them. Nicholl said that something else separating them is that the crown jewels are well-known and documented, whereas her private collection is way more mysterious.
“These are gifts which are given to the queen over her reign however the crown jewels belong to the monarch,” she explained. “They’re handed from monarch to monarch in trust for the nation. So, technically, they belong to the monarch, however the monarch is not allowed to run off with the crown jewels. They stay safeguarded on the Tower of London in safekeeping for the nation, and when one monarch dies, the crown jewels are immediately passed to their heir.”
How much is Queen Elizabeth’s jewelry collection price?
Since her collection is not well-known outside of her immediate circle, nobody can really say what the Queen’s private collection is price.
“While we will put a worth of billions onto the crown jewels, putting a worth on the queen’s private collection is far harder, just because we do not know each piece in her collection,” Nicholl said. ”And, also, how will you put a price on something which will have been given to her by a world leader or a king or queen or an emperor or an empress 40, 50 years ago? These pieces have a lot significance, historical significance, that it is very hard to place a price on them.”
She added that a jeweler might give you the chance to see pieces she has worn through the years and put a theoretical value on them based on visible stones and settings, they’d not give you the chance to keep in mind the historical or sentimental value of the items. They’re “simply priceless.”
What’s probably the most famous piece of knickknack in Queen Elizabeth’s private collection?
Prince Philip proposed to Elizabeth on July 8, 1947, and presented her with a three-carat round cut diamond ring that was supposedly constituted of a tiara that belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg. She’s going to not be interred with this engagement ring, but will likely be wearing her Welsh gold wedding ring.
“Whoever gets to wear that ring goes to be a really, very special piece indeed,” Nicholl conjectured. “I’d imagine, possibly, perhaps for Princess Charlotte. We’ll need to wait and see.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will likely be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
