Daniela Elser: Kate Middleton’s $3.90 earrings put focus on Meghan’s lavish jewellery

Opinion:

One of the facts that I have always found most intriguing about the royal family is that no one knows how many tiaras they actually have squirrelled away.

Crowns? Sure. They are stashed in the Tower of London for paying tourists from Des Moines to gawp at, but when it comes to getting the full measure of just how vast the house of Windsor’s trove of priceless baubles, it’s a guessing game.

Not only, over the years, have they acquired notable pieces via, shall we say, circuitous means (there are a number of Romanov pieces in their collection) they have also been given oodles of the stuff.

For example, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge was gifted a diamond and ruby demi-parure when she wed in 2011 (the identity of the very generous benefactor is a secret to this day) along with having been permanently lent a slew of jaw dropping earrings, necklaces, bracelets and brooches by her grandmother-in-law and keeper of the jewellery safe keys, the Queen.

Now if you or I had access to such a hoard, well, I’d wear them day in and day out. (Pearls with PJs? Sapphires with sweat pants? Bien sur!

But Kate? Well, sometimes what a future Queen really wants to add some flair to her outfit is a pair of $3.90 earrings.

No, I haven’t forgotten a zero there or misplaced the decimal point….