ELIZABETH TAYLOR ARCHIVES: The Prince of Wales Insignia

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The Prince of Wales Insignia

In 1987, after the death of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, her large and celebrated collection of jewelry was put on the auction block to benefit the Pasteur Institute—a leader in AIDS research. Years before the auction Elizabeth had admired the Duchess’s “Prince of Wales” Insignia, a brooch dating from about 1955. Her husband, the Duke, had been the former Prince of Wales before ascending the throne in 1936. He was King for only a short time, before abdicating to marry to his true love, the American divorcée Wallis. Elizabeth must have had admired a story not too dissimilar from her own love affair with Richard Burton, her own Prince of Wales. The Duchess gave Elizabeth permission to have a copy made, but Elizabeth knew she couldn’t replicate such a unique piece. However she never forgot the piece and snapped it up at the auction, bidding over the phone from her home in Bel-Air. Elizabeth acquired it for $623,000, even outbidding members of the royal family. The insignia marked “The first time I’ve ever had to buy myself a piece of jewellery,” Elizabeth admitted.

Back to Her Love Affair With Jewelry.