The Royal Significance of Anna Wintour’s Buckingham Palace Necklace

By Annie Davidson Watson | February 18, 2025

Did Anna Wintour just wear royal jewels?

Earlier this month, the longtime editor-in-chief of Vogue was appointed a Companion of Honour by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, for her contributions to fashion and journalism. As always with Wintour, her sartorial choices were perfectly fitting for the occasion—she even wore a necklace that repurposed royal jewels.

The vintage collet necklace, featuring substantial, luminous amethyst stones set in detailed gold filigree, is believed to be part of a parure (a matching set of jewelry) that was gifted to the future Queen Mary in 1898. According to the blog The Royal Watcher and other sources, the parure—comprising a tiara, earrings, and a ring alongside the necklace—was given to Mary, then the Duchess of York, by Princess Catherine of Württemberg.

Its royal connection doesn’t end there. The parure apparently was passed down through the royal family, with Princess Margaret eventually inheriting it. Margaret reportedly sold the jewelry to settle debts.

After disappearing from public view, the amethyst set surfaced at auction in 1993, where it sold for £55,357 (approximately $70,000) to an anonymous bidder, according to The Royal Watcher. The parure later reappeared at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair in London and was again acquired by an undisclosed buyer.

In 2007, Wintour was seen wearing the necklace to a party at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, leading many to believe the “anonymous” buyer had been the U.K.-born Wintour, quietly acquiring a piece of royal history.

At the Buckingham Palace ceremony last month, the necklace seemed to be reset in gold without diamonds. Now linked to both British and fashion royalty, this amethyst necklace stands as a symbol of Wintour’s unerring style. It is, in every sense of the word, a piece fit for a queen—or, indeed, a Companion of Honour.

Top: Anna Wintour after being made a Companion of Honour in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Feb. 4 (photo: Andrew Matthews/pool photo via AP)

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