One of Queen Elizabeth II’s final posed portraits. Courtesy of Buckingham Palace
A new photo of Queen Elizabeth II was released on Sunday, September 18, hours before her state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
“Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s Funeral, a new photograph has been released,” the official royal family Instagram account announced. “It was taken this year to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, as she became the first British Monarch to reach this milestone. Tomorrow, millions will come together to commemorate her remarkable life.”
The monarch died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She was 96 and had recently celebrated 70 years on the British throne. Her son King Charles III has acceded her.
In the official photo, the queen wore her iconic triple-strand pearl necklace with matching earrings, accessories she has loved for decades. She paired her trademark pearls with a powder blue outfit. The look appears to match the one she donned for her speech to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day in May 2020.
The late regent topped off the look with twin aquamarine clip brooches, which she often wore throughout her life. She received them from parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth as part of a set of jewels to call her own on her 18th birthday in 1944.
She chose to wear the brooches many times over the decades including during a state visit to the Netherlands in 1958, a 2006 Thanksgiving service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor and her speech at the state opening of parliament in May 2021.
The art deco-style pieces feature aquamarines and diamonds. While they are often referred to as Cartier clips because the designer popularized the style, the twin baubles were made by Boucheron, according to the Royal Collection. They were originally bought by her uncle, Prince George, Duke of Kent, for his wife, Princess Marina, in July 1937, days after she was in a minor car accident, Vanity Fair reports.
Marina and George’s children, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent, are Elizabeth’s first cousins and still working members of the royal family. Edward and Michael will be in the procession leading the queen’s casket into Westminster Abbey on Monday.
They’ll join the sovereign’s children — King Charles III, Princess Anne (and husband Sir Timothy Laurence), Prince Andrew and Prince Edward (and wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex) — as well as King Charles III’s kids — Prince William (with wife Princess Kate) and Prince Harry (with wife Meghan Markle) — and the Duke of Cambridge’s eldest son and daughter, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.