The summer opening of Buckingham Palace this year includes a exhibition of royal gifts from the Commonwealth countries. Included are a number of brooches and a necklace that have been gifts during the royal tours of the Commonwealth countries in the last 60 years.

One of the first gifts the Queen received on a Commonwealth tour was the Flame Lily Brooch from Rhodesia. During a 1947 tour with her parents and Princess Margaret to southern Africa, Princess Elizabeth turned 21. As a present from the children of Southern Rhodesia, she was presented with a diamond brooch in the shape of the country’s emblem the flame lily. image She notably wore the brooch when she stepped off the plane from Kenya in February 1952 as the new Queen following her fathers death and now wears it on a few occasions. image

In 1951, Princess Elizabeth with the Duke of Edinburgh toured around Canada. image On the tour she wore a diamond brooch in the shape of a maple leaf. image The brooch belonged to her mother. During a Candian tour in 1939 Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) was presented with the brooch. (image the Queen Mother wearing her Maple Leaf brooch in 1940 with Princess Elizabeth) The Queen Mother continued to wear the brooch until her death. image The Queen now wears the piece to events relating to Canada such as the vigil for Canadian servicesmen at Canada House to mark the 90th anniversary of World War One in November 2008. image Read more…

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 The summer opening of Buckingham Palace this year includes a special exhibition to mark 60 years of the Commonwealth. Part of the exhibition will include a display of over 100 gifts given to the Queen and Prince Philip from their travels to the Commonwealth countries. Sometimes the Queen receives beautiful jewels as gifts which often have a symbolic reference to the country she is visiting. Two fantastic brooches will form part of the display at the palace.

The Fern leaf brooch (image1) was given to the Queen on Christmas Day 1953 by the women of Auckland. The Queen was visiting New Zealand on part of her six-month long Commonwealth Tour of 1953/4 and she delivered her first Christmas Day message from Auckland (image2). The brooch of diamonds set in platinum is in the shape of a leaf of a Silver Fern which is the national emblem of New Zealand. On subsequent tours to New Zealand, the Queen has chosen to wear the fern brooch. She also is seen wearing the brooch when carrying out engagements in the UK which relate to New Zealand for example in November 2008 promoting tourism to New Zealand image3 or in 2006 at the opening of a war memorial to New Zealand victims image4.

The Wattle Brooch (image5) was also presented during the Commonwealth Tour in 1954 by the Government of Australia and was presented to her by the Prime Minister Mr Menzies whilst the royal couple stayed in Canberra. The brooch consists of 150 yellow and white diamonds in the design of a large wattle spray which is the national flower of Australia and there are also three tea tree blossoms in the centre. The Queen frequently wears this brooch during tours of Australia image6 (arriving in Canberra March 2006) image7 (1970 tour – this whole outfit will be on display in the Palace this summer). The Queen also wore the Wattle brooch at the 50th anniversary service of her coronation in June 2003 image8.

More information on the summer opening of Buckingham Palace and the special Commonwealth exhibition can be found at this website

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  9 March 2009:  Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip today attended a special service at Westminster Abbey to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth. In her Commonwealth Day message, the Queen emphasised the importance of young people to the Commonwealth, noting that one billion members of Commonwealth countries are under the age of 25.

According to polls carried out in Britain, however, many young people do not think the Commonwealth is important or relevant. Possibly in an attempt to appeal to younger people, the Westminster Abbey Twitter page was giving frequent updates during the service.

For more information, see this thread.

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