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Our bejeweled tribute to the lifetime of the late Queen Elizabeth II continues this afternoon with a more in-depth take a look at one of the vital necessary days of her life: her twenty first birthday, when she declared her life-long dedication to public service—and obtained some necessary diamond presents, too.
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The spring of 1947 was undoubtedly one of the vital thrilling durations of the lifetime of the younger Princess Elizabeth. The struggle had ended, and although Britain was nonetheless residing in an age of austerity, Elizabeth was experiencing a stage of freedom she hadn’t but often called a younger grownup. On the eve of her twenty first birthday, she was trying ahead to a brand new period of her life. Not solely was she making ready to turn out to be a full-time working member of the royal household, she was secretly engaged to the dashing Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who had proposed to her at Balmoral within the autumn of 1946.
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Princess Elizabeth’s mother and father, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, had agreed to provide their consent to her marriage, however beneath one situation: she would wait to announce the engagement till after they’d launched into an necessary overseas royal tour. The household, together with Elizabeth’s youthful sister, Princess Margaret, have been scheduled to go to southern Africa for 3 months in early 1947, with time spent touring South Africa, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Bechuanaland (Botswana). It was the primary main royal tour for the reason that King and Queen’s journey to Canada in 1939. Above, the household arrives at Worcester Station in South Africa in the course of the tour.
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On the time, the Union of South Africa was a self-governing dominion inside the British Empire, with the King as head of state. South Africa turned an unbiased republic in 1961. The royal household is pictured right here in Cape City in the course of the tour. Apparently, the royal girls wore new garments all through the tour, although rationing was nonetheless in power in Britain. The three girls have been classed as commerce ambassadors for the style trade and got particular allowances for the go to.
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Princess Elizabeth’s twenty first birthday passed off in the course of the tour on April 21, 1947. Celebrations passed off all through the journey to mark the necessary milestone. Right here, she receives a bouquet throughout a cease within the Orange Free State on March 19, 1947.
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As her milestone birthday drew nearer, Elizabeth posed for formal portraits, just like the one pictured above. Pearls have been her major jewellery accent all through the tour. She hardly ever wore earrings for daytime events throughout this era, partly as a result of she didn’t have her ears pierced till 1951.
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On the day of the birthday, April 21, the younger princess made a speech that turned one of many defining moments of her royal life. In Cape City, carrying her signature pearls, she made a radio broadcast transmitted throughout the Commonwealth and Empire, committing herself to her future position as monarch and promising to dedicate “unwavering religion” and “braveness” to the duty. “I declare earlier than you all that my complete life whether or not or not it’s lengthy or brief shall be dedicated to your service,” she famously said.
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That night, the princess’s birthday celebrations continued with a gala banquet and ball at Authorities Home. She and Princess Margaret are each pictured dancing right here in the course of the birthday ball.
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Through the gala, Area Marshal Jan Smuts, then Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, offered Elizabeth with a powerful diamond and platinum necklace. The jewel featured 21 graduated sensible diamonds, with further spherical and baguette diamonds between every bigger sensible. The most important of the brilliants weighed in at ten carats. Through the presentation, Smuts declared, “This little reward will remind her of this excellent go to to South Africa and of this milestone in her life. It is going to be an emblem of the hyperlink she has established with our nation and its individuals. It would remind her of the deep and honest emotions of sympathy and goodwill which this historic go to has stirred within the hearts of all my individuals.”
Later, Elizabeth had the necklace shortened. (She did this usually with necklaces in the course of the late Forties and early Fifties, each in order that the jewels would match her higher and to comply with the present trend of the time.) The sections that have been eliminated have been mixed with one other birthday current (a six-carat diamond that had been given to Elizabeth three days earlier than her birthday by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, the chairman of De Beers) to make an identical bracelet.
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Elizabeth wore the South African Diamonds all through her life, particularly for occasions associated particularly to South Africa and events linked to the bigger Commonwealth of Nations. Right here, she wears the necklace and bracelet (plus Queen Mary’s Diamond Cluster Earrings) as she makes her Christmas Broadcast on the radio from Auckland in December 1953, throughout her post-coronation tour of the Commonwealth.
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The grand necklace wasn’t the one glowing birthday reward offered to the princess in the course of the 1947 tour. In Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) on April 7, 1947, throughout a reception at Authorities Home, six native youngsters formally offered Princess Elizabeth with a fragile diamond brooch within the form of a flame lily, the nationwide flower. Schoolchildren from all through the nation had contributed small sums of cash towards the creation of the brooch, which was made by native jeweler Len Bell and constructed by Eric Kippin in Johannesburg. The jewel options greater than 300 diamonds (sourced from De Beers) set in platinum and white gold.
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The brooch shortly turned one in all Princess Elizabeth’s favorites, but it surely was vaulted to iconic standing in February 1952, when she wore it for her return to Britain following the sudden dying of her father, King George VI, whereas she was visiting Kenya. She continued to put on the brooch for all kinds of events all through her lengthy life.
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There have been household presents to have a good time the princess’s birthday as properly. Her mom dipped right into a cache of newly-inherited jewels, the Greville Bequest, to provide an appropriate current for her daughter: a pair of diamond clip brooches, made by Cartier, within the form of ivy leaves. Right here, Princess Elizabeth wears them throughout a go to to Washington, D.C., in 1951, clipping one to her hat and the opposite to her lapel. We noticed her continued to put on the ivy leaf clips for many years, together with current appearances within the spring of 2022.
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This diamond floral brooch, within the form of a clematis flower, can also be stated to have been one in all Elizabeth’s twenty first birthday presents, reportedly the one given to her by members of the Royal Family. The Related Press wrote that the brooch was offered to the princess by Sir Alan “Tommy” Lascelles (her father’s non-public secretary) and Girl Harlech (her mom’s Girl of the Bedchamber). Right here, Elizabeth wears the brooch for an engagement in Could 1947. A number of weeks later, she famously wore the jewel for the official portrait session following the announcement of her impending marriage to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.
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Members of the Diplomatic Corps gave Elizabeth this pair of diamond floral clip earrings as a birthday current as properly. The clip earrings have been a central a part of her gala jewellery wardrobe in her youthful years, particularly earlier than she had her ears pierced within the late summer season of 1951. Right here, she wears them with the Women of Nice Britain & Eire Tiara for a banquet throughout a state go to from her great-uncle, King Haakon VII of Norway, in June 1951.
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And there have been presents associated to her beloved regiment, the Grenadier Guards, as properly. (She had been named honorary colonel of the regiment in 1942, an appointment that was crucial to her.) She obtained a brand new regimental badge within the form of a firing grenade (worn above along with her unique badge in Could 2010), plus a diamond brooch from officers of the regiment. There was a further military-related brooch as properly, within the type of a form of bejeweled wings, a gift from the King’s Flight. The press corps following the royal tour acknowledged the Grenadier Guards connection to mark the princess’s birthday as properly, providing her a floral show within the form of the regiment’s badge.
