Six Diamond Brooches, Six Lives: One Ended the Night Before the Queen's Funeral

The night before her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II gave six young women an identical diamond brooch — written in her own hand. This is the story of those six brooches, and the six lives they followed. On 2 June 1953, six daughters of the British aristocracy carried Queen Elizabeth II's 21-foot velvet train into Westminster Abbey. Most of them had never even met her. Each was chosen for her bloodline — and each was given the same gift: a small "ER" brooch by Garrard, its initials modelled on the Queen's own handwriting, at the suggestion of the Duke of Edinburgh. For a single morning they were the most photographed young women in Britain. Then the world moved on. In this episode we follow those six brooches across seventy years — from Blenheim Palace to a Scottish farmhouse, from Princess Margaret's side on the island of Mustique to a hushed London saleroom. We meet Lady Rosemary Muir, Lady Moyra Campbell, Lady Jane Willoughby, Lady Jane Rayne, the bestselling memoirist Lady Anne Glenconner — and her breathtaking antique diamond star tiara, sold at Bonhams in December 2025 for £127,400. And we end with Lady Mary Russell — the young woman who had never met the Queen — who died on 18 September 2022, the very night before the Queen she once served was carried to her own funeral. Of the six diamond brooches, in over seventy years, only two have ever come to auction. Where are the rest? Stay to the end. ------------------------------------------ Let's Connect! 🔥SUBSCRIBE to my Youtube Channel / @BehindTheGift -------------------------------------------- Behind The Gift All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel do not claim any right over them. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.