Was there a hidden olive branch in Meghan’s Oprah interview jewellery?

Never has scrutiny over one woman’s jewellery collection been so intense. First came the realisation that, in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tell-all interview with Oprah, Meghan wore a diamond tennis bracelet that belonged to Princess Diana. Worn by the late Princess at one of her last ever public appearances, to a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1997, it was taken as a tangible reference to Prince Harry’s fears of ‘history repeating itself’.

Then, of course, came the controversy over a pair of diamond Damiani earrings the Duchess wore during the Royal Tour of Fiji in 2018 - a wedding gift from Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, the crown prince accused of orchestrating the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Whether Meghan was aware of the crown prince’s alleged involvement in the assassination, and ignored her aides’ advice not to wear the earrings, has been the subject of legal debate. Not since Naomi Campbell received a gift of ‘dirty pebbles’ in the middle of the night have diamonds been the subject of such contention.

Amid bullying claims levelled against Meghan by Buckingham Palace staff, and the Duchess’s assertion that ‘The Firm’ actively ‘perpetuated falsehoods’ about her and her husband, one precious, and potentially telling, detail has been overlooked: the necklace she chose to wear while ‘speaking her truth’.

Read More: The 5 messages in Meghan's Oprah interview outfit

The gold and aquamarine necklace is by British jeweller Pippa Small, one of Meghan’s favourite designers, who has close links to Prince Charles. She received an MBE in 2013 for her ethical jewellery and charity work, having in 2008 started working with Turquoise Mountain, the charity established by the Prince of Wales and Hamid Karzi in 2006 to protect and promote traditional craft in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Now operating across Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Middle East, Turquoise Mountain’s charitable projects include restoring historic buildings, treating patients, training thousands of artisans in traditional skills that would otherwise be lost, and raising money via the sales of their handcrafted products, which includes Pippa Small’s Turquoise Mountain collection.

An anthropologist and human rights activist, the jeweller works with goldsmiths in Myanmar, Jordan and Afghanistan, collaborating on pieces inspired by their traditional arts and motifs. She was introduced to the charity via a mutual friend. “Prince Charles is passionate about heritage, tradition and craftsmanship, and allowing it to develop into contemporary design,” Small told Telegraph Luxury. “He’s seen how the jewellery helps to provide livelihoods in something that creates a lot of dignity and pride. That’s a big part of his message.”

In 2018, the jeweller took an 'old-fashioned approach' and wrote a letter to the Duchess of Sussex, introducing herself and her brand. “I explained the work we do with women in various communities, and using ethical gold, and I mentioned that Turquoise Mountain was one of the groups we work with,” Small says. She sent pieces to Meghan's stylist for the Duchess to consider. “It must have struck a chord, and her support has been amazing.”

The £1,800 necklace Meghan chose for the Oprah interview features three drops of hand-cut aquamarine on a gold cord, and is handmade in Jaipur. “Aquamarine is a very serene, positive stone. It’s the colour of the sky or the sea -  it’s very freeing. It’s a hopeful stone, there’s something very pure about it,” Small says. “Aesthetically, the necklace and our jewellery in general is quite simple and natural feeling. It’s more subtle and less showy than traditional jewellery; it becomes more personal, like an amulet.”

Meghan has another memorable piece of aquamarine jewellery in her collection - the oversized Asprey cocktail ring that once belonged to Princess Diana, that she wore to her wedding reception.

The Duchess was first photographed wearing the aquamarine necklace during the Royal Tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in 2018. She also wore bangles and earrings from the Pippa Small Turquoise Mountain collection at the Fashion Awards in London in December 2018, when she was pregnant with Archie, and has worn the jeweller’s designs on several other occasions - including Princess Eugenie’s wedding - significantly boosting Small's business.

“I would imagine [what struck a chord is] that the fact we’re working with women, in areas of conflict and post-conflict where there haven’t been a lot of opportunities for these communities, and craft and creativity has made a huge impact,” Small says.

“Meghan has been amazing in a quiet way, without being preachy: just by choosing sustainable, ethical, smaller brands, it sends out a strong message. The fact that she chose to wear our pieces opened up the conversation about sustainability to a much larger demographic - it helped to get the message across about conscious buying and the fact that what you wear can transform lives. It really helped us, highlighting what we’ve been doing for 20 years.”

Since the Oprah interview aired, Small has seen a “pique in interest” with increased traffic to her website.

“It’s been such a tough year and this has really helped. It gave us a boost that we really needed. It’s incredible for the artisans in the workshops to see the pieces they made photographed on Meghan, and to have their story told. It has an immediate impact - after the Fashion Awards in 2018 we had so many orders that we had to employ more craftspeople. That has a huge impact on a community when one individual supports 10 or 15 others. It instantly transformed their lives and brought huge amounts of pride and joy.”

On whether there was a deeper message behind Meghan's decision to wear that particular necklace for the interview, Small is undecided. “I wish I knew! It does seem a lovely gesture,” she says. Of course, it could be that the Duchess simply wanted to add some colour to her monochrome Giorgio Armani dress, matching the aquamarine necklace with her pale blue topaz earrings, by Canadian brand Birks. 

But Meghan has always been drawn to jewellery with a deeper meaning. She often layers pendants that have personal significance - whether the initials or star signs of her son and husband, protective motifs such as the ‘evil eye’ on her Edge of Ember pendant, or romantic messages such as the Love pendant by London-based designer Sophie Lis.

By now, the Duchess is used to her every fashion choice being pored over for hidden messages and clues. So there’s every chance that, in choosing to wear a piece by Pippa Small, she was sending out a small but significant olive branch to her increasingly estranged in-laws. Given that she and her father-in-law, at least, share a particular passion for sustainable, traditional crafts, why not all just get along?

Read more:  Six times the rich and famous used Oprah Winfrey to tell all - and why

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