She’s renowned for having an impressive jewellery collection in her own right, and this week Queen Camilla sported some of her favourite Van Cleef & Arpels pieces to watch the action unfold at Wimbledon.
The Queen adorned her cream outfit with a sweet black and white dog pin by Van Cleef & Arpels – one of the maison’s Lucky Animals clips, which the Queen has been collecting for several years (she is also known to have worn the brand’s hummingbird, owl, squirrel, rabbit and hedgehog pins in the past).
The pup pin in question bears more than a passing resemblance to a Jack Russell, and is crafted from 18k yellow gold, with white mother-of-pearl fur contrasted with patches of black onyx. It is outlined in the Parisian maison’s perlée, a gold beadwork technique developed around a century ago.
The precious perlée technique has also formed a significant feature of Van Cleef & Arpel’s bestselling Alhambra collection since 1968. The Queen was seen sporting one of her favourite Alhambra bracelets to the same tennis match. Its iconic shape draws inspiration from four-leaf clovers, a favourite lucky talisman of Jacques Arpels, a member of the maison’s founding family. Meanwhile, the name ‘Alhambra’ is derived from the Alhambra Palace in Spain, where Moorish quatrefoil designs with overlapping circles are an important part of the building’s intricate decoration.
Queen Camilla’s favourite Alhambra bracelet bears five clover motifs in blue agate. Catherine, Princess of Wales, is also a firm Alhambra fan, and has been seen wearing a suite of the jewels in gold and mother of pearl. The classic design – also beloved by the likes of Princess Grace of Monaco, Barbara Hutton and Elizabeth Taylor – has more recently found a huge new audience, including men, thanks to its appearances on celebrities like LeBron James, Drake and Saint Jhn. It has also become a TikTok phenomenon, racking up millions of posts on the social media platform.
Adorned in two different lucky charms, perhaps The Queen helped keep rain at bay from Centre Court. Let’s hope she’s planning to make appearance at the upcoming Wimbledon finals matches, too…
Like this? Take a look at tennis star Emma Raducanu’s favourite pearl bracelet
