Royal signals: How Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton express themselves through their jewellery choices

Jewellery has always been a way to communicate, overtly or not. Victorians used gemstones to send messages: diamonds for eternal devotion, pearls for sorrow, rubies for passion. Edwardian ladies expressed sympathy with militant suffragettes by combining white, green and purple gems – for purity, hope and dignity, respectively.

Today, we convey messages to our loved ones through gifts of jewellery for occasions such as wedding anniversaries or birthdays. We use such ornaments to tell our story: the charm bracelet, for example, can be a narrative of our individual achievements and milestones.

For example, Carrie Bradshaw’s name necklace in the Sex and the City television series – it was a personal affirmation of confidence and individual worth. More than two decades later, today’s personalised jewellery has become less about oneself and more about loved ones and family.

Fashion standard bearers such as Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle have popularised such trinkets; Middleton has been seen wearing a Gold Midnight Moon necklace by Daniella Draper with her children’s initials.

Draper, known for recycled precious metals, uses initials, as in her Mini Cupid Hoop Earrings with Alphabet Charms. Her collections, engraved with inspirational messages, even include baby bracelets.

Markle has been seen wearing an “A” initial necklace by Australian designer Emma Swann of Verse Fine Jewellery. The result was an avalanche of orders and a website that crashed. Markle has also worn a zodiac dog tag 14-carat necklace by Los Angeles-based Mini Mini Jewels, with a pendant each for her husband, Prince Harry, and son, Archie.

Zodiac references are an opaque way in which jewellery is used to show family solidarity. Necklaces with astrological signs or star configurations picked out in diamonds are popular. And with the trend for layering chain necklaces, several star signs can be saluted at once.