The Queen Mother’s Lifelong Love of Jewellery

Having had access to the jewels designated Heirlooms of the Crown and with a spectacular collection of her own, the Queen Mother had so much jewellery to choose from over the course of her long life that it would be almost impossible to describe it all.  In this talk her passion for jewels is chronicled by concentrating on a selection of items which are of particular gemmological and historic interest ..… and have an intriguing story attached.

Jeremy Mainwaring-Burton graduated from Durham University with a degree in geology and went on to join the army.  He spent five years in the Irish Guards, the last two and a half of which were on secondment to Clarence House as the Queen Mother’s equerry. Being a geologist, he couldn’t help but notice the magnificent gemstones in the Queen Mother’s jewellery.  This inspired him to study gemmology and on leaving the army he qualified as a Fellow of the Gemmological Association. Then, in addition to working as an exploration geologist in South Africa and a gold miner in California, he spent several years as a jewellery and precious stone dealer in London’s Hatton Garden.