Queen wears sapphire tiara for rare official portrait

Sabrina Barr
·2 min read
Queen Elizabeth II arrives for Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on 1 July 2010 (Getty Images)
Queen Elizabeth II arrives for Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on 1 July 2010 (Getty Images)

A rare official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II has been released, showing the monarch wearing blue sapphire jewellery and a matching tiara.

The Queen’s new portrait was captured last year at Windsor Castle by photographer Chris Jackson, who has worked as a royal photographer for Getty Images for over 17 years.

In the picture, the 94-year-old is dressed in an ivory ensemble, wearing her Canadian insignia on her left shoulder, as Sovereign of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit.

She is also wearing an array of blue sapphire jewellery, a couple of pieces of which were a gift from her father, King George VI, for her wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947.

Mr Jackson explained on Instagram that the diamond and blue sapphire necklace and earrings set worn by the Queen for the picture is known as “The King George VI Victorian Suite”, after her father.

The jewels for the necklace and earrings date back to the mid-19th century, while the matching tiara and bracelet were added to the jewellery set more than a century later in 1963, the photographer said.

The Queen wore The King George VI Victorian Suite jewellery while visiting Canada three decades ago during a royal tour.

View this post on Instagram

It was an incredible honour to have the opportunity to photograph HM Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the Canadian Government for her official Canadian Portrait that has been released today. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Canada many times now with members of the Royal Family and have the fondest memories of the people I’ve met and the incredible, vast and beauty country that I’ve been privileged to get to know a small part of over the years. In the photograph The #Queen is wearing her Canadian insignia as Sovereign of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit. She is also wearing “The King George VI Victorian Suite,” a diamond and blue sapphire necklace and earrings that were given to her by her father King George VI as a wedding present in 1947. The jewels date back to circa 1850; the matching tiara and bracelet were added to the suite in 1963. The Queen wore the sapphire suite in Canada during the 1990 Royal Tour. Shout out to the team Guy Isherwood, Matt Wash and Jerome Hunt as well as everyone at @o_canadiana and @royalfamily and, as ever, everyone at @gettyimages - For my Canadian followers click on the link in stories to download a portrait 🇨🇦

A post shared by Chris Jackson (@chrisjacksongetty) on Oct 16, 2020 at 7:28am PDT

On the official Instagram account for culture, arts and heritage in Canada, it explains that the Order of Canada, of which the Queen is Sovereign, is the country’s “highest civilian honour”.

The Order of Military Merit, on the other hand, is an honour bestowed upon individuals in the Canadian Armed Forces who have shown “distinctive merit an exceptional service”.

In July this year, Princess Beatrice was lent a dress by the Queen for her low-key wedding to property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Princess Beatrice recently said it was an “honour” to wear her grandmother’s gown, which was worn by the Queen on several occasions in the 1960s, including to the 1962 world premiere of Lawrence of Arabia at the Odeon Leicester Square.

Read more

Queen ‘could be used to dispel coronavirus vaccine fears’

Beatrice says it was an ‘honour’ to wear Queen’s dress for wedding

Queen carries out first public engagement since March