Long before she was the Princess of Wales—and even before she was the Duchess of Cambridge, her first title upon marrying into the royal family in 2011—Kate Middleton was a jewelry designer, at least for a short stint.
The future queen helped Claudia Bradby design a necklace pendant back in 2007 which remains a bestseller for the brand still today, People reported. The collaboration between Bradby and Kate was for Junior Jigsaw, and it happened three years before Prince William popped the question to Kate in 2010. The piece, called the Mother and Child Pendant Necklace, is a pearl necklace that came about after Bradby—who knew Kate was at the time a buyer for Junior Jigsaw—wrote the 25-year-old a letter “saying that I would be very interested in working with her on a jewelry collaboration,” Bradby told People. “I can still remember the phone going, answering it, and thinking it might be a prank!”
Kate Middleton.
PA Photos/Landov
Kate was very vocal about the type of design that she wanted, which included having a “simple, clean aesthetic,” Bradby said. The three charms on the necklace were a silver nugget, a rose quartz, and a pink pearl, and it was designed in the hope that a mother could buy the piece for herself and her daughter “to wear together, which I thought was a lovely idea,” Bradby said.
Shortly after they collaborated, William and Kate broke up for a brief stretch: “Looking back on it now, it must have been a crazy situation for her to be in, to be having a relationship with the future heir to the throne, and this was her first ever job out of university,” Bradby said. “It felt normal at the time, and there was certainly no sign of the pressure she must have been under.”
Kate Middleton and Prince William on March 13, 2007.
Getty
Kate Middleton in 2006.
PA Photos/Landov
Bradby noted Kate’s “ability to understand discretion” as a “key quality that has served her well all these years later.”
“She is obviously a very beautiful and striking woman, but you know how some people can occupy a lot of space and some people go quietly?” Bradby asked. “I remember thinking she had a charming and quiet nature about her.”
Kate Middleton on June 17, 2006.
Getty
“It was thrilling to get a big brand like Jigsaw stocking my jewelry, and to have this added sprinkle of magic working with someone associated with the royal family—it was wonderful,” she added.
Though the necklace has evolved since its conception in 2007—it now features two charms instead of three—it can still be purchased and retails for approximately $182.