Earlier this week, Kate Middleton paid sartorial tribute to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana—as she often does—but upon closer examination, there seemed to be something different about the earrings Kate wore from when Diana owned them during her lifetime.
On March 10, the Princess of Wales wore Diana’s Collingwood Pearl Drop earrings to the Commonwealth Day service, in addition to a necklace that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth. Kate has worn this particular pair of earrings many times, but Hello! pointed out that one of them was missing a small silver diamond.
Kate Middleton on March 10, 2025.
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Each of the earrings have four of these small silver diamonds surrounding the top of a teardrop-shaped pearl, and one seems to have gone missing. According to the outlet, it’s unclear at what point the diamond went missing, but in 2019—when Kate wore the pair of earrings to the Order of the Garter service at St. George’s Chapel—the “diamond was noticeably absent,” according to Hello!.
Kate Middleton on March 10, 2025.
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The Collingwood Pearl Drop earrings were a gift to the former Lady Diana Spencer from Collingwood Jewellers ahead of her July 29, 1981 wedding to the former Prince Charles. Collingwood Jewellers were a longtime favorite of the Spencer family, and the earrings were originally part of a set, which included the earrings and a necklace. “However, only the earrings ended up being given to the princess after royal intervention, as it was thought the set was too extravagant a gift,” Hello! reported.
Diana wore the earrings on numerous occasions throughout her far-too-short life, including in June 1981—one month before her wedding—at a banquet given at Claridge’s for King Khalid of Saudi Arabia. She wore them again on her wedding day with her going-away outfit, and even wore them when she famously wore her black “revenge dress” in 1994.
Princess Diana in the “revenge dress” on November 20, 1994.
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Diana was last seen wearing the jewels that same year, and after her death in 1997 the earrings weren’t seen again until 2017, when her daughter-in-law Kate wore them for a state banquet. Since then, Kate has worn them numerous times herself, even donning the pair in her 40th birthday portraits in 2022.
“I think we have seen lots of examples where the reference is very intentional, and I think that Kate uses fashion to pay tribute to Diana in a very positive way,” Bethan Holt, fashion news and features director at The Daily Telegraph, previously told People.
Kate Middleton on March 10, 2025.
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Kate Middleton on March 10, 2025.
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Both Kate and Meghan Markle have worn Diana’s jewelry throughout the years, after Diana left her expansive jewelry collection to her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to divide up how they saw fit. In addition to the Collingwood Pearl Drop earrings, Kate very famously wears Diana’s iconic sapphire and diamond engagement ring, and Meghan often wears Diana’s Cartier Tank watch.