Kate Middleton uses gold charms and initials to signal family ties in Italy

A pearl necklace hung with three gold Asprey charms did more than finish Catherine, Princess of Wales’s look in Reggio Emilia. It carried the acorn and oak motifs of the Middleton coat of arms into a public setting where family, continuity and duty were all on display.

The necklace featured an acorn, an oak leaf and a mushroom from Asprey London’s Woodland collection, with the charms hand-cast in 18k yellow gold. JCK linked the acorn and oak to the Middleton family coat of arms, a heraldic distinction conferred on Michael Middleton before his daughter’s 2011 marriage to Prince William. It was not the first time Catherine had used those symbols as personal shorthand: she wore the same Asprey charms on a 2014 royal tour of Australia, and she has long favored jewelry that carries family meaning rather than obvious display.

That instinct sharpened on the second day of the trip, when Catherine wore a cotton bracelet from Italian brand Atelier Molayem with three small gold beads engraved with the initials of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The bracelet cost €10 and sat on the same wrist as her Cartier Ballon Bleu watch, a quiet combination that read less like souvenir dressing than deliberate message-making. In one piece she referenced her husband’s household; in the other, her children.

The symbolism mattered because this was Catherine’s first solo international trip since her 2024 cancer diagnosis, and palace staff saw it as a meaningful pivot point in her return to public life. The setting gave the jewelry added weight. The Princess of Wales visited Reggio Emilia on Wednesday, May 13, and Thursday, May 14, as part of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood’s international work, a high-level fact-finding mission focused on leading approaches to supporting young children and caregivers. The visit built on the Centre’s Shaping Us Framework, launched in February 2025, and on work it has pursued since 2021.

Reggio Emilia was chosen for its internationally recognised approach to early childhood education, which places relationships, environment and community at the centre of development. Catherine spent time at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre, which opened in 2006, explored an immersive clay atelier and visited the Scuola Comunale d’Infanzia Anna Frank. She was greeted in the cathedral square by a large crowd, Mayor Marco Massari, local officials and preschool children, and ANSA said she hugged Elizabeth Spencer, a London-born woman who had traveled from Germany to see her. She also met early-education figures Ione Bartoli, Carla Moroni and Eletta Bertani, underscoring that in Italy, her jewelry told a family story, but her visit itself carried the larger message: children are central bearers of rights.