You have to look no additional than Van Cleef & Arpels Queen’s birthday
With rescue dogs Beth and Bluebell firmly in her affections, Queen Camilla has long been known as an animal lover.
That fact was evidenced again earlier this year when she pledged that she would not buy any more fur products.
So if family members have been unsure what to get the Queen for her 77th birthday tomorrow – they need look no further than animal-themed jewellery.
For her recent outing at Wimbledon, the Queen chose a dog brooch from Van Cleef & Arpels.
It is one of six brooches that Camilla – who included the names of her rescue dogs on her Coronation gown – is believed to own from the French jeweller’s ‘Lucky Animals’ collection.
The original designs – of a cat, a dog, an owl, a lion and a hedgehog – were launched in 2017 and now the collection comprises 50 different animals and birds.
For her outing at Wimbledon this year, the Queen was seen wearing one of her Van Cleef & Arpels animal brooches, a dog no less. Camilla Queen Consort collects the French jewellery maison’s ‘Lucky Animals’ brooches; it is thought she has six
Van Cleef & Arpels’ Lucky Animals dog clip costs £6,550 and is made from mother-of-earl, yellow gold and onyx
The adorable animal designs are set in gold, with various coloured hardstones such as mother-of-pearl, malachite and onyx within a gold beaded border, called millegrain.
The technique was perfected by the brand over a century ago.
The 2017 brooches were inspired by Van Cleef & Arpels’ ‘La Boutique’ collection from 1954. The pieces were based on early cartoon characters.
Princess Grace of Monaco had the gold Duck Clip – set with sapphires, emeralds and diamonds – amongst her menagerie of animal brooches.
Camilla was first spotted before the coronavirus pandemic wearing her hummingbird brooch.
The then Duchess of Cornwall visited the Royal Marsden’s Maggie’s Centre in February 2020, with the bird brooch, which boasted a body of green malachite, blue lapis lazuli wings and onyx eyes.
Weeks later, days before the first lockdown, Camilla wore her very child-friendly rabbit and hedgehog pins for a visit to a primary school on World Book Day.
The rabbit is made with mahogany obsidian, with a little mother-of-pearl scut (tail).
His eye is onyx while his ears are rose gold, like the millegrain border.
The hedgehog, pinned below the rabbit, had a tiger eye as his head, an onyx eye and grey mother-of-pearl as his body.
Camilla owns at least six brooches from Van Cleef & Arpels’ Lucky Animals collection. Above: The Queen wearing their hummingbird brooch while visiting the Royal Marsden’s Maggie’s Centre in Sutton in February 2020. The bird brooch has a body of green malachite, blue lapis lazuli wings and onyx eyes
For World Book Day in 2020, Camilla wore Van Cleef & Arpels’ rabbit and hedgehog clips together. The rabbit is made with mahogany obsidian, rose gold and mother-of-pearl. The hedgehog is made from onyx, tiger eye, mother-of-pearl and rose gold
The rabbit and hedgehog clips from Van Cleef & Arpels. They cost £5,950 each
Van Cleef & Arpels’ owl brooch was worn by Camilla when decorating the Clarence House Christmas tree in 2021. It is created with two types of mother-of-pearl, onyx for the eyes and a yellow gold border
The Lucky Animals owl clip is made from yellow gold, mother-of-pearl and onyx. It costs £6,550
Above the body’s perlée border are little gold balls for spikes!
The owl brooch was seen later that year on a video to celebrate Volunteers’ Week, and again in December 2021 when Camilla decorated the Clarence House Christmas tree with children from Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children Charity helping.
The owl was created with two types of mother-of-pearl: grey and white – again with onyx for the eyes and a yellow gold border.
The year before, Camilla wore her dog brooch when she took her Battersea Dogs Home rescue Jack Russell Beth along with her for a return visit to the centre in December 2020.
The Lucky Animals dog brooch could almost have been modelled on Beth, with its black and white body made from mother-of-pearls and onyx.
Its ears were yellow gold, while the eyes and nose are made from onyx. This is the same brooch that Camilla wore at Wimbledon last week!
Last September, Queen Camilla wore an apt white mother-of-pearl dove brooch when she visited a family centre for people who have suffered domestic violence.
The dove has long been a symbol of peace and the centre in Battersea strives to provide peace for its guests.
At the Cheltenham Festival last year, Camilla wore a sparkly brooch depicting a horse and jockey
The racing horse is pavé-set with diamonds, and a gold saddle and possibly enamel for the jockey’s silks
In 2020, Camilla visited Battersea Dogs Home with her rescue dog Beth. She and wore the dog brooch from Van Cleef & Arpels’ Lucky Animals collection. It boasts a black and white body made from mother-of-pearls and onyx, while its ears are yellow gold and its eyes and nose are made from onyx
When Queen Camilla visited the S.T.O.R.M Family Centre in London in February last year, she wore a white mother-of-pearl Dove
In May 2020, Camilla wore her red squirrel brooch – another from the Lucky Animals collection – when she read from Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach for an initiative to support charities impacted by the pandemic
Van Cleef & Arpels’s squirrel clip costs £6,550. It is made from rose gold, carnelian, onyx and tiger eye
The final one from the collection that Camilla has been seen wearing is the red squirrel brooch.
It is fitting because the King is a patron of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust and, according to Prince William, is ‘obsessed’ with the animals.
Camilla wore the brooch in May 2020 when she read from Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach for an initiative to support charities impacted by the pandemic.
The sweet little squirrel body fur is created with carnelian, it has an onyx eye and a lustrous looking tiger-eye tail.
The Queen’s soft spot for animal-themed brooches does not stop at Van Cleef & Arpels.
At the Cheltenham Festival in March last year, she chose a diamond and enamel piece depicting a horse and jockey.
The racing horse was pavé-set with diamonds, and a gold saddle, and the jockey was wearing the royal scarlet and purple silks.
She also wore this brooch at Ascot last October. It is similar to a brooch belonging to the late Queen – but both the horses’ strides and the jockeys’ positions are different.
