Prince Albert’s Sapphire Brooch

Prince Albert is renowned for designing pieces of jewellery as a gift for his wife, Queen Victoria. One of the first, and perhaps most famous, pieces he gave her was a ‘splendid brooch of an immense Sapphire, set round with diamonds’, which she received in the evening of 9th February 1840, the day before their wedding. Despite not wanting to get married covered in jewels, Victoria made sure to wear her ‘Angel’s beautiful sapphire brooch’ for the ceremony. This was later immortalised by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in his 1847 portrait of three Queen, which you can see pictured below.

Naturally, the brooch quickly became one of Victoria’s favourite pieces of jewellery and was worn for many special occasions and portraits throughout her reign. Before his premature death in 1861, Prince Albert had brooches made in a similar style for each of their five daughters.

Upon her death in 1901, Queen Victoria left the iconic brooch as a Heirloom of the Crown. Since then, it has been worn by each Queen Regnant and Queen Consort, although Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) rarely only wore it on a small number of occasions. However, the piece quickly became a firm favourite of Queen Elizabeth II upon her ascent to the throne in 1952, and went on to become one of her most worn pieces of jewellery.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, the brooch was passed down to Queen Camilla, who wore the brooch for the first time on 31st March 2023 during her first State visit to Berlin.

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