The Cambridge Cluster Emerald Brooch with pear shaped Emerald Pendant was left to the Queen from her grandmother Queen Mary, in 1953.
It is part of the Cambridge Emerald Collection: The story begins in 1818, when King George III's seventh and favorite son, Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, married Princess Augusta of Hesse...While they were visiting Frankfurt, a State lottery was held in aid of charity; the Duchess bought some tickets and won a small box containing some forty graduated cabochon emeralds. Back in England she used some of them to make a pair of drop earrings and a necklace with five pendant stones.
This Cambridge emerald brooch was not specifically made for the Delhi Durbar although it was worn for that occasion in 1911.
The round cabochon emerald is surrounded by two rows of large diamonds and a line of smaller diamonds between, with a pear shaped emerald pendant that can be detached.
Mary often used the Cambridge emerald brooch as an extension of her Delhi Durbar Emerald Stomacher, on bottom.
Queen Elizabeth II wears it often and mostly with the pendant attached and but she will occasionally wear it without the pendant.
Above we see the golden wedding picture of Queen Elizabeth II, wearing the Cambridge emerald and diamond cluster brooch with the large pearshaped pendant.
Sources:Royal Family.Royal Collection;
