Queen Mary’s Stomacher is “formed as three linked articulated brooches of tapering and delicately scrolled outline, the stones in cut-down pavé and millegrain settings, each brooch suspending three pear-shaped pendants, formed of brilliant clusters, and two brilliant pendants, the smallest brooch with a fourth pear-shaped pendant.”1
The stomacher was made for Queen Mary in 1920 using diamonds from a few of her wedding presents: a crescent brooch from the town of Swansea and a stomacher from the Maharajah of Kapurthala. The latter she wore to the Devonshire Ball in 1897.
The new stomacher was designed so that it could be worn as three separate brooches when needed. Queen Mary gave the stomacher to the future Queen Elizabeth II for her wedding in 1947. Queen Mary wore the stomacher as one piece, but Queen Elizabeth II usually only wore a single brooch. Below, she wore the entire piece; click here to see her wearing the bottom section.
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