Before she became the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton’s career path could have looked very different.
A St Andrews University graduate, the place where she met future husband Prince William, she had the world at her feet and opportunities were vast. Before marrying William in 2011, the future Duchess of Cambridge and then Princess of Wales took a turn at being a jewelry designer.
The future queen helped Jigsaw designer Claudia Bradby design a necklace pendant back in 2007 which remains a bestseller for the brand still today. The collaboration between Bradby and Kate was for Junior Jigsaw in 2007, three years before William would propose to his future wife with them tying the knot in April 2011.
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Bradby told People how the collaboration occurred, which resulted in the Mother and Child Pendant Necklace still available today.
Bradby explained how she wrote Kate a letter “saying that I would be very interested in working with her on a jewelry collaboration. can still remember the phone going, answering it, and thinking it might be a prank!”
Together the pair designed the necklace which included having a “simple, clean aesthetic”. Bradby shared, “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.”
Describing Kate, who was 25 at the time and dating William, Bradby explained, “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. It felt normal at the time, and there was certainly no sign of the pressure she must have been under.”
The Mother and Child pendant is still available via Bradby’s jewelry website, however it has evolved to be just two charms instead of three.
On the website it’s described as, “Our Mother & Child Necklace features the gold plated, solid silver nugget that was originally designed by Claudia in collaboration with Kate Middleton, as she then was; she had commissioned a design that could be worn by both mother and daughter.
“Some years on, it seemed a natural evolution to use this same design to celebrate motherhood in all its iterations. Offering the perfect gift for any mum, the mother and child necklace contains a unique nugget that is joined by a beautiful baby freshwater pearl. It is a wonderful celebration of mother and baby that will stay close to her heart forever.”
Kate’s life is hugely different now as she joins Prince William in preparing to relocate to their $20 million “forever home.”
Rather than moving into Buckingham Palace when Prince William becomes King, the future monarchs and their kids George, Charlotte, and Louis, intend to live at Forest Lodge, situated in Windsor Great Park. This location sits four miles away from their current four-bedroom home, Adelaide Cottage.
The pair, who married in 2011, reportedly wanted a new beginning after facing multiple hardships in recent years, including King Charles and Kate’s cancer diagnoses and the Queen’s death.
Royal author Sean Smith, who recently released his new book Sophie: Saving the Royal Family, told the People’s Channel that Forest Lodge is conveniently located near Duchess Sophie’s home at Bagshot Park who is a great friend of Kate.
He explained, “They remain the best of friends. They have always been two middle-class girls from the country battling their way through the etiquette and traditions of the Royal Family.
“They do not live in each other’s pockets. Kate has three young children to occupy her attention, but the Waleses’ new home, Forest Lodge, is little more than a 10-minute drive from Bagshot Park, so Sophie is near to help and support when she can.”
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