The Secret Royal History of Meghan Markle's Cartier Nail Necklace
You could call it the nail necklace but if you want to address it properly, say the Cartier Juste En Clou. It was created in the New York of the 1970’s by Aldo Cipullo, the designer also of the Cartier Love bracelet. The Italian designer had arrived from Italy in the late 1960’s when the idea of “everyday” jewelry was beginning to take hold and he capitalized on the potential of the elevation of the quotidian. He made a bracelet you needed a screwdriver to take off, and sketched jewels in the image of a nail. Today the idea of jewels to be worn everyday feels like ritual, but at the time it was a quiet revolution. Which is perhaps why in their official language for the Juste En Clou, Cartier describes it as a piece “that breaks through conventions, asserting the essence of its wearer. Original, independent, fearless, and free.”
It would not be difficult to see how this sentiment might appeal to Meghan Markle, but whether or not she read the copy, she is clearly a fan. Her Juste En Clou necklace, a choker in yellow gold accented with diamonds, has quickly become one of her signature pieces. It was front and center, set against her camel Ralph Lauren ensemble, in the CBS interview she and Prince Harry gave Jane Pauley. And then just this week, she wore it with a Johanna Ortiz sundressduring their visit to Colombia. It joins a Cartier collection that includes a Love bracelet and a gold Tank Francaise. Markle also wore Cartier diamond studs and a bracelet at her wedding to Prince Harry in 2011.
Is there more to her jewelry choices than simply the streamlined modern design, the now signature nail motif, of the 177 year old history of the house of Cartier? Someone once described the Juste En Clou as the jewel of a rebel, and certainly, it did defy the more conservative jewelry standards of its time. And it has, after being reintroduced by Cartier in the early 2000’s quickly ascended to the status of icon, joining Cartier legends like the Love bracelet, the Trinity, and the Panther. But could there be more?
It is difficult to look at a piece of Cartier and not flash to the singular women who have worn it. Two, in this case, particularly. Grace Kelly, was a commoner, a movie star yes, but still not royal, when she wed Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess Grace. That transformation began with a 10 carat emerald cut diamond Cartier engagement ring (she famously wore it on screen in High Society). Cartier was also prominent at the wedding itself in the form of a three strand diamond Festoon necklace of alternating round and baguette cut diamonds, which still belongs to the family. (Her granddaughter Charlotte Casiraghi wore it to her own wedding.) And to set the foundation for the new princess’s jewelry collection? More wedding Cartier, the Bains de Mer diamond and ruby Cartier tiara.
The relationship between Princess Grace and the French house continued throughout her life. The bond was recently in the public eye again when Cartier relaunched the Grain de Café collection. The Cartier grain de café style was created under the direction of the legendary Jeanne Toussaint, Cartier’s creative director of jewelry from 1933 until the 1970s. The style was said to have been inspired by the legendary café culture of Paris in the 1930s and became especially popular in the 1950s. Princess Grace famously wore her set on the official stamp of Monaco and then again to an official visit to the White House in 1961. More recently, her daughter Princess Caroline of Monaco has been photographed wearing her mother’s Grain de Café necklace and bracelet.
The link between this historic French house and a commoner who became royalty is clear and well documented. And Princess Grace is not the only one. Cartier has another famous regular woman turned royal in their archives. One whose narrative follows an even more parallel path to Markle’s. Her name was Wallis Simpson. She became The Duchess of Windsor and she and her husband, The Duke of Windsor, also left royal life behind them. Simpson’s taste in jewelry, and for Cartier, is legendary. She wore a Cartier bracelet with bejeweled crosses (a piece that remains one of jewelry’s Holy Grails) to her wedding.
Her husband famously loved to give her gifts from Cartier, including her diamond and onyx panther bracelet, that sapphire and ruby and emerald Flamingo brooch, that panther brooch perched on that enormous emerald, the turquoise, and amethyst bib. The Duke of Windsor often engraved the Cartier pieces he gave his wife. One ruby and diamond bracelet for example contained the phrase “For our first anniversary of June third.” Note that traditionally a first anniversary gift is paper, not Cartier, but this occasion marked more than matrimony, it also was a declaration of their independence.
Now there is absolutely no documentation that Meghan Markle has this history in mind when she wears her Cartier Juste en Clou necklace or her Love bracelet, but for those who know their jewelry history, these associations are difficult to ignore. The Aldo Cipullo designs she wears are expressions of bold modernity, and breaks with tradition, but they also reflect a larger story of women in the royal world, and outside of it. Are any of them inscribed with something that might tell us what they mean to her? Perhaps, years from now, we will know.
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