In honor of Queen Elizabeth, Meghan Markle is wearing a little shine.
As the Queen’s casket was ceremoniously carried through the streets of London on Wednesday, the Duchess of Sussex, 41, wore a set of pearl and diamond drop earrings gifted to her by the late queen.
Meghan, who was sitting in the car with Sophie, Countess of Wessex, gazed straight ahead as they traveled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, the exquisite earring visible through her hair wrapped up in a bun.
The Queen has gently lent and presented jewelry to her female relatives throughout the years, and she gave Meghan these pearl and diamond earrings to mark their first solo outing together in 2018. Just a month after marrying Prince Harry, Meghan accompanied the Queen on a royal train ride to Cheshire, some 200 miles from London, where they met with community leaders and witnessed a performance by local schoolchildren.
The queen was a known admirer of pearl jewelry, and the earrings she gave Meghan seemed to be a scaled-down replica of one of her favorite sets.
Kate Middleton complemented her black suit with a pearl shamrock brooch originally owned by the Queen for Wednesday’s funeral procession and ceremony. During a visit to South Korea in 1999, her late grandmother-in-law got the sparkling clip.
The new Princess of Wales, 40, traveled in a separate car with Queen Camilla, which is noteworthy given that they are now the two most powerful women in the royal family.
The procession included King Charles III, Prince William, and Prince Harry. Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Anne’s son Peter Phillips, Anne’s husband Sir Tim Laurence, the Queen’s cousin Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Queen’s nephew David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon marched with the men.
Crowds gathered in the streets to see the Queen’s coffin. The casket arrived at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening, flown in from Scotland, where the queen died “calmly” on September 8 at the age of 96.
It stayed in the palace overnight before being carried to Westminster Hall on Wednesday, where it will lie in state for five days and be open 24 hours a day.
Hundreds of thousands of individuals are anticipated to pass through before the Queen’s state funeral on Monday, September 19, which will be addressed by diplomats and dignitaries from all around the world.
