Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style is the largest exhibition of the late Queen’s fashion ever mounted and opened this week at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, running until 18 October 2026. With over 300 items on display, many for the first time, there is plenty to see. But for jewellery lovers, these five pieces are worth the visit alone. Read all about them below.
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In the year her late majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, would have turned 100, a new exhibition is offering a unique and unprecedented look into the clothes and accessories that accompanied her 70 years on the throne.
Entitled Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, the exhibition by the Royal Collection Trust has just opened in the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace and contains over 300 items from Queen Elizabeth’s own wardrobe, many never displayed to the public before.
Of course, there also glittering jewels from Queen’s extraordinary jewellery collection on show, too. Here, we’ve rounded up five of the most memorable and iconic pieces worth seeking out at the exhibition.
1. Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara
Crafted by Garrard in 1919 at the request of Queen Mary, this Fringe Tiara is widely known as the tiara that Queen Elizabeth wore on her wedding day in 1947, and was reportedly one of her favourite tiaras.
It features 47 tapering bars formed with rose-cut diamonds, alternating with finer spikes of lozenge-shaped brilliant-cut diamonds, and was inspired by the Russian fringe tiaras which were immensely popular during the period (themselves inspired by the imposing and elaborate kokoshnik headdresses of the Russian imperial court).
The piece was cleverly designed to be convertible, so it could be worn as a fully articulated diamond fringe necklace, or mounted onto a frame to be worn as a tiara.
Queen Mary passed the tiara to Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother in 1936, who later loaned it to Queen Elizabeth (then Princess Elizabeth) for her marriage to Prince Philip. Famously, as the diadem was being arranged onto the bride’s head its antique frame snapped, and it had to be rushed under police escort to Garrard’s central London workshop, where it was mended in under two hours (though a small gap between the central two spikes is still visible in wedding pictures from the day).
Luckily, by the time Queen Elizabeth II loaned the tiara to her own daughter, Princess Anne, for her first wedding in 1973, the tiara had been fully restored to its former glory. It was last seen on the head of Princess Beatrice for her wedding in 2020. This is the first time the piece has gone on display in 20 years.
2. Queen Elizabeth II’s Aquamarine Tiara
Another spectacular headpiece crafted by Garrard, this was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956 to match an aquamarine necklace and earrings set that she had been gifted by the President and people of Brazil three years earlier to celebrate her coronation.
In 1971, the Queen had the piece altered to include four new scroll-shaped ornaments taken from a piece of jewellery given to her by the Governor of São Paolo in 1968 and also the huge central aquamarine taken from her Brazilian necklace from 1953. The piece hasn’t been worn publicly since the Queen’s passing in 2022.
3 & 4. The Queen Anne and Queen Caroline Pearl Necklaces
Forever immortalised as Queen Elizabeth’s wedding day necklaces, these centuries-old pearl strands are amongst the oldest heirlooms in the royal jewellery collection and were a marriage gift from her parents in 1947.
The shorter necklace, of 46 pearls, once belonged to Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart monarchs. The longer necklace, with 50 pearls, was passed on from Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II and was made from pearls re-strung from necklaces she had worn at their coronation in October 1727. Both pieces were left to the Crown by Queen Victoria.
5. Queen Elizabeth’s Burmese Ruby Tiara
Commissioned from Garrard by the Queen herself in the 1970s, the Burmese Ruby Tiara is made up of precious stones taken from another dismantled tiara – the Nizam of Hyderabad Tiara, which the queen had received as a wedding gift from an Indian prince in 1947. The original piece had featured an ornate diamond floral design, and had been made in the 1930s by Cartier.
The 96 rubies for the Queen’s new tiara had been sourced from another wedding gift, which had been donated by the people of Burma. In Burmese culture, it is said that rubies protect their wearer from ill health and bad luck. The gemstones were arranged into heraldic roses that nod to English history. The Queen last wore the tiara in 2019, for an American state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
Like this? Take a closer look at Queen Victoria’s tiara recently worn by the Princess of Wales
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Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style runs daily from 10 April to 18 October 2026 at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace (entrance on Buckingham Palace Road). Tickets from £22 for adults, £11 for children, with £1 tickets available for those on Universal Credit. Book at rct.uk.
