After a garden party and a spot of tea as their state visit to the US kicked off on Monday, King Charles and Queen Camilla returned to the White House for their official welcome on Tuesday morning. For her second day in the States, Camilla wore the Cullinan V brooch, a heart-shaped gem with special significance to her husband’s late mother. Queen Elizabeth II wore the heirloom jewel often, including on a 1983 trip to the United States where she met with then president Ronald Reagan.
Over the last few years, wearing the Cullinan V diamond has become Camilla’s favorite way to honor the memory of her mother-in-law. Cut from a legendarily large stone found in South Africa in 1905, the gem was presented to the British royal family by the leaders of the Transvaal province. After it was polished and broken into multiple chips, those pieces were incorporated into the crown jewels. In 1953, Elizabeth inherited the gem after the death of her grandmother, Queen Mary.
Photo by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images.
On a rainy day in March 1983, Elizabeth had the Cullinan V brooch on her lapel when she arrived in Santa Barbara—not too far from where her grandson, Prince Harry, currently resides. She traveled to the West Coast on the now decommissioned royal yacht Britannia, and spent 10 days touring California. When she arrived in Santa Barbara, she greeted President Reagan, who had come West to meet her, with a handshake. As the king and President Trump did on Tuesday morning, both Elizabeth and Reagan then stood somberly as the national anthem played.
Later, Nancy Reagan hosted a dinner for the queen on the grounds of 20th Century Fox studios, where more than 500 luminaries had gathered to meet the British monarch. (According to Time, the queen “had wanted to see a Hollywood studio” and this was the “finest oldtime studio lot still operating.”) The late queen and her son both had a close relationship with the Republican power couple. Nancy later said that she struck up a friendship with the queen and heard her talk about her concerns for the health of Princess Diana on this trip.
During a speech on the tour, the queen thanked the Reagan administration for its support in Britain’s conflict over the Falkland Islands, according to writer David Charter. “The support of your government and the American people touched us deeply and demonstrated to the world that our close relationship is based in our shared commitment to the same values,” she told a crowd that assembled at the Los Angeles City Hall.