Queen Elizabeth Wears Rarely Seen Brooch with a Touching Backstory Dating Back to Her 19th Birthday

The monarch chose an appropriate floral brooch to attend the Chelsea Flower Show

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Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Paul Grover - Pool / Getty

Queen Elizabeth has a stunning collection of brooches, but she opted for a rarely seen accessory with sentimental meaning for her outing to the Chelsea Flower Show.

On Monday, the 96-year-old monarch toured the annual event by golf cart while wearing a floral dress topped with a bright pink coat. In addition to her signature pearl necklace, the Queen adorned her outfit with a stunning sapphire, ruby and diamond brooch depicting a floral spray. The piece was a gift from her parents — King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother — on her 19th birthday.

Although the brooch is rarely seen in public, the Queen has previously worn it for special occasions, including a portrait session at Buckingham Palace with a baby Prince Charles in 1949.

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Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth in 1949. PA Images via Getty

Queen Elizabeth also picked the accessory for another flower show — the Floriade Flower Festival during her Oct. 2011 tour of Australia, when she wore a purple ensemble.

According to Leslie Field's The Queen's Jewels, the sweet birthday gift also included a matching pair of earrings in the shape of flowers, although the earrings have not been seen in many years.

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Queen Elizabeth in 2011. Cole Bennetts/Getty

Accompanied by relatives — including her son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, her granddaughter Princess Beatrice and Beatrice's husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi — the Queen was treated to displays commemorating her historic 70 years on the throne at the Chelsea Flower Show. (The famed horticulture show was canceled in 2020 due to COVID and postponed in 2021.)

Designed by Simon Lycett, the new display featured a steel frame shaped in the familiar outline of the portrait of the Queen used on U.K. stamps. The frame contains 70 terra cotta plant pots surrounded by a smaller silhouette of the Sovereign fashioned from greenery.

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Queen Elizabeth. Paul Grover - Pool / Getty

The monarch smiled as she was driven around on a golf cart.

"Adjustments have been made for the Queen's comfort," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said of the Queen's new ride. (The Sun previously reported that the Queen was being ferried in a new battery-powered, luxury golf cart amid her ongoing mobility issues.)

Other prominent constructions on show for the royals were the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund Garden, which honors the Battle of Britain during WWII and celebrates the charity's support for RAF personnel, veterans and their families for more than 100 years.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (C) is given a tour of the 2022 RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London on May 23, 2022. - The Chelsea flower show is held annually in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Queen Elizabeth. DAN KITWOOD/POOL/AFP via Getty

Elsewhere, a garden put together by the U.K. mental health charity Mind provides a colorful and restful place for visitors to connect with each other. After the flower show this week, it will be taken to a local branch of Mind, providing eco-therapy for those with mental health challenges.

Next week, the Queen hopes to attend many of the events celebrating her Platinum Jubilee, beginning with the annual Trooping the Colour on June 2.

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