Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
After Queen Elizabeth II’s demise on September 8, 2022, many images and videos have gone viral on social media spreading misinformation and conjecture. In this context, an image of the late Queen standing with the then US President Donald Trump is going viral on social media claiming that Queen Elizabeth II wore a brooch gifted by former American president Barack Obama during Trump’s visit to Windsor Castle in 2018. Newschecker found these claims to be untrue.
The image has been shared on Twitter by user @Spacejunkie4 which has garnered 1,231 likes and 237 retweets on the platform and is shared along with the caption ‘Remember when the Queen wore Obamas brooch to greet Trump? A fact that he would probably only have learned later. She had a great sense of humour which we rarely witnessed, but she nailed it with passive aggressive class right here.’
Newschecker found similar posts on Twitter and Facebook with similar captions.
Also Read: Sticker on Hearse Carrying The Queen’s Coffin Disappeared Midway? Here’s What Actually Happened
Fact Check/Verification
We started our investigation by conducting a keyword search on Google with the words “Queen Elizabeth II”, “brooch”, “Trump visit” and an article by The Telegraph titled ‘Did the Queen use her jewellery to send a message to Donald Trump? The answers are all in one’s brooches’ uploaded on their website on 19th July, 2018.
According to the article, the palm leaf brooch, which the Queen was sporting during the Trumps’ visit, is well-known. According to the Telegraph, it was a favourite of the Queen’s mother, who wore it “famously during the state burial of her husband King George VI.”
When the Trumps visited the UK, the queen did wear a brooch that former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama had given her, but she wasn’t wearing it when she met the Trumps. Additionally, she wasn’t wearing it in the image that is now viral.
Upon conducting a keyword search with the words “palm leaf brooch” and “Queen Elizabeth” on Google, Newschecker found a website called the Court Jeweller.
According to the website, “The Queen’s Mother commissioned Cartier to make the Palm Leaf brooch for her in 1938. The jewellers used loose diamonds that were already in her collection to construct the piece, which jewel lovers have noted also shares a major resemblance to a paisley motif. Indeed, one of the French translations for the word paisley is “palme.”
The design takes its English name from the Scottish town of Paisley, where weavers produced shawls featuring the design in the nineteenth century. But the design pattern is much older. The pattern woven into the Scottish shawls was based on designs found on textiles imported by the East India Company from Asia. These textiles often featured floral patterns with curved teardrop shaped designs, originally produced in Persia, called “boteh.”
The website further mentions that it was famously worn by the Queen’s mother at the mourning of her husband King George VI.
Newschecker also found an article by the Evening Standard titled ‘The meanings behind Queen Elizabeth’s brooches’ uploaded on their website on 26 June, 2020.
According to the article, the Obamas presented Queen Elizabeth with a 14-karat yellow gold, diamonds and moss agate from the famous American jeweller Tiny Jewel Box during their previous state visit in 2011.
It is clear from the comparison in the pictures below that during the Trumps’ visit in 2018, Queen Elizabeth II is not wearing the brooch presented to her by the Obamas.
Conclusion
Newschecker’s investigation reveals that Queen Elizabeth II did not wear the brooch presented to her by the Obamas in the viral image alongside Donald Trump. The brooch she is wearing in the image, known as the palm leaf brooch, belonged to her mother who passed it down to her.
Result: Partly False
Our Sources
Article by The Telegraph on 19th July, 2018
Article by Evening Standard on 26 June, 2020
Court Jeweller website
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
