Princess of Wales Honors Diana’s Memory With Pearl Earrings at The Cenotaph
On Remembrance Sunday, Kate Middleton paid a quiet tribute to the late Princess Diana by wearing a pair of pearl earrings that once belonged to her. The Princess of Wales attended the National Service of Remembrance in London, an annual ceremony that honors British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who lost their lives in conflict. The earrings, designed by Collingwood, have become a familiar part of her ceremonial wardrobe on solemn occasions.
Photographed on a balcony overlooking The Cenotaph, Middleton kept her look dignified and understated. She wore a black outfit with a brimmed black hat, and pinned three red poppies to her coat to remember those killed in war. Royal watchers believe the trio of poppies is a nod to her great-grandmother’s brothers, who died fighting in World War I, though the family has not officially confirmed this.
Queen Camilla, 79, stood alongside her on the balcony while their husbands took part in the ceremony below. Prince William and King Charles III, both of whom have taken part in the service for many years, each laid a wreath at the memorial, with William aged 44 and Charles 77.
One notable absence was Prince Harry, who moved back to the UK with his wife, Meghan Markle, in late August. Rather than joining his estranged family in London, the 42-year-old Duke of Sussex chose a far lower-key commemoration. Wearing his military medals and a poppy pin, he stood among local residents on a side street in Brackley, Northamptonshire. Markle, 45, and the couple’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, were not with him.
For Middleton, 44, wearing Diana’s pearls to the service is a recurring gesture rather than a one-off. Last year she paired them with a black-and-white polka-dot dress and a black headpiece at Westminster Abbey. In 2024, she wore them with a black coat dress to the service at the Royal Albert Hall. The mother of three has often used jewelry and fashion to link herself to the memory of her late mother-in-law, whom she never had the chance to meet.
Diana died in 1997 at the age of 36, when the car she was traveling in crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris as photographers pursued it. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and the driver, Henri Paul, were also killed in the crash. She had divorced Charles the year before, bringing an end to their marriage, and her legacy continues to be felt through her sons and their families.
