The story of the British royal family’s jewellery is one of constant evolution, but perhaps no single figure influenced the collection as profoundly as Queen Mary, From family heirlooms to her own creations and even treasures acquired from distant empires, the jewels of the British royals stand as a testament to her transformative influence.
The Delhi Durbar Parure was Queen Mary’s most impressive suite of jewels. This elaborate set combined her family’s jewels, gifts from Maharajas, and significant diamonds from the Royal Collection.
In 1911, The Kings of Great Britain were also the Emperors of India. King George V and Queen Mary travelled to India to become the first to be crowned there. However, they needed a new set of crown jewels to take with them because by law the British Crown Jewels cannot leave the UK. This gave Mary the opportunity to commission a new suite of jewels that incorporated her family’s emeralds into a grand royal parure.
The Cambridge Emerald Brooch was taken from a stomacher that belonged to Mary’s mother, Mary Adelaide, the Duchess of Teck. It features a round cabochon cut emerald framed by three concentric circles of old mine cut diamonds. Underneath, there is a cabochon emerald drop pendant which is detachable.
In June 1911, Queen Mary wore the brooch alongside her mother’s original necklace for her son Edward’s investiture as Prince of Wales
King George and Queen Mary travelled to India and on 12th December 1911, she debuted the complete parure in all her imperial finery.
Unlike many of her other jewels, Queen Mary would go on to wear the complete parure for the rest of her reign and into her widowhood.
As this was a personal jewel and not an Heirloom of the British Crown, this brooch was not worn by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother but inherited by Queen Elizabeth II on her grandmother’s death in 1953.
Queen Elizabeth made frequent use of the entire Delhi Dhurbar Parure but she preferred to use the Emerald version of the Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Tiara as opposed to the Delhi Dhurbar Tiara.
She would wear the Cambridge Emerald brooch for both formal and informal occasions.
Queen Elizabeth passed away in 2022, with her vast jewellery collection seemingly being solely inherited by King Charles III. Queen Camilla wore the Cambridge Emerald Brooch to Ascot in 2025