Kate Middleton's Jewelry For First Royal Family Event Since Completing Chemo Speaks Volumes

Back to business! Catherine, Princess of Wales, hit another post-chemotherapy milestone on November 9 by attending her first event as a member of the royal family. She, along with King Charles, her husband Prince William, Princess Anne, and other royals, attended the Festival of Remembrance, a performance event honoring Remembrance Day. (Similar in nature to the U.S.'s Memorial Day, the solemn U.K. holiday pays tribute to fallen service members.) The princess wore the traditional poppy pin on her dress's lapel, but her other jewelry was a remembrance in itself. Her pearl-drop earrings once belonged to the mother-in-law she never got a chance to meet: the late Princess Diana. Kate also wore her diamond-and-sapphire engagement ring that once graced Diana's left hand; in recent months, she had been spotted with other rings instead.

Some wags interpreted the jewelry as a bit of shade-throwing toward Queen Camilla, who has withdrawn from recent engagements due to a chest infection. However, it's not something the protocol-conscious princess would do at an occasion like this — particularly one involving the king. Royals rarely leave their accessorizing to chance; rather, they select designs and symbols with special significance, either personally or socially. More likely, Kate chose the pieces to honor both Diana and her own triumph over adversity.

Being ill is difficult enough for the average person, but even more so for public figures — particularly royals. Every time a senior member, such as Queen Camilla, has a health scare, wild rumors and dire predictions explode on news outlets and social media. No wonder the palace has traditionally kept medical matters under wraps. Yet, when both King Charles and Kate Middleton learned of their cancer diagnoses within weeks of each other, they opted to be more transparent. This explained their extended absences from official duties, and helped them seem more relatable to their countrymen and women. Difficult as it may have been for Kate to reveal her health struggles, her grace and honesty won her widespread admiration.

With the good news of the end of her chemotherapy treatment, Kate is giving fresh life to the phrase "statement jewelry" through her accessories. In October 2024, she unexpectedly held a private meeting with families of three children who were killed during the Southport stabbing tragedy. There, she wore gold earrings in the shape of a fern, a plant traditionally representing resilience, endurance, transformation, and new growth. The jewelry's meaning was just as significant to the recuperating princess herself as to the grieving town. 

At the Remembrance Day event, Kate paired Princess Diana's pearl earrings with a simple pearl pendant. The look was appropriately understated for the occasion, and the jewels themselves once again carried a message. According to Ouros Jewels, pearls are thought to aid in healing, as well as "promot[ing] spiritual balance [and] personal growth" and represent "purity, wisdom, and calmness" — all qualities the princess tries to represent. Pearls also happen to have been a favorite accessory of the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose memory is beloved among the royal family and much of the world.