The Flame-lily brooch was a present to the then Princess Elizabeth from schoolchildren in Southern Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe).
The schoolchildren had each donated a ticket (three old pence). The brooch was designed by Len Bell from the Salisbury (Harare) jeweller and then made by jeweller Eric H.S. Kippin, who had trained at Cartier. The stones came from De Beers and were set by H. Michel. The brooch was given to Princess Elizabeth during her parents’ tour of Southern Africa in 1947.
When she returned to London from Kenya five years later following the death of her father, the now Queen Elizabeth wore the brooch as she alighted from the plane. The following year, two similar brooches were presented to the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret for the Queen Mother’s first commonwealth tour. The brooch given to the Queen Mother was inherited by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002.1
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