The late Prince Philip’s funeral took place on April 17 with the notable members of the royal family present because of the COVID-19 rules. The Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 at age 99, was interred in the Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after a 50-minute service attended by just 30 guests. Attending the event, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton grabbed everyone’s attention with her graceful and modest dark dress.
To this, she added a simple pillbox hat with a net veil, a black face mask, and a pearl choker set around her neck. According to reports, this was seen as a tribute to both, Queen as well as the late Princess Diana.
The Japanese Pearl choker necklace was earlier worn by Kate for the Queen and Prince Philip’s 70th wedding anniversary dinner at Windsor Castle in 2017 and by her late mother-in-law Princess Diana in 1982.
The Queen loaned it to Diana, who loved pearls, for a banquet given by Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands at Hampton Court Palace during the Dutch royal family’s visit to the UK – one of her first royal engagements a year after her marriage to Prince Charles.
The Queen asked for the four-row Japanese Pearl Choker to be made from ‘the finest cultured pearls’ which were a gift from the Japanese government. It has four strands of pearls with a central curved diamond clasp.
The Monarch wore the choker in the 1980s and 1990s and to a dinner celebrating former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s 70th Birthday in London in 1995.
Queen’s Bahrain gifted pearl earrings
Along with that choker, Kate wore a chic black £1,605 Roland Mouret dress with an asymmetrical neckline – the same she wore for the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance in 2018
The necklace also has more symbolic meaning than just the family heirloom: Her choice of jewelry offered a much-needed moment of uplift and joy. Of that, Prince Philip would surely approve, writes Vogue.
In addition to the necklace, Middleton also sported a pair of the Queen’s Bahrain Pearl Earrings, made from pearls that were gifted to her Royal Majesty when she married Prince Philip.
