The bouquet Her Majesty carried
For the Diamond Jubilee of 2012, the coronation bouquet was rebuilt as an articulated brooch in white gold and diamonds, and presented in a rock crystal box.
What the brooch is
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was marked by a gift from King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain: a coronation bouquet brooch, presented in a rock crystal box. The bouquet it recreates is the one Her Majesty carried on the day of her coronation.
The brooch is fully articulated and three dimensional, made by hand in 18 carat white gold and set with brilliant cut diamonds. The leaves are shaded by engraving and the lilies are picked out in fine gilding.
A coronation-bouquet brooch presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
How we made it
Recreating a bouquet rather than designing one puts the maker in an unusual position, because every decision has already been made by a florist in 1953 and the job is to find the metal equivalent of it. The stems move against one another, so the brooch hangs like a gathered bouquet instead of sitting flat as a spray.
The box was made to go with it, hexagonal in rock crystal and diamond set, with six panels for the six decades of the reign. Each panel is carved with the flowers of the Commonwealth, including the Rose of England, the Shamrock of Ireland, the Scottish Thistle and the Welsh Leek.
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