Jewellery has always been a powerful symbol of royal authority, part of a historical and cultural narrative, that helps situate its individual members into the arc of history.

So it has proved with the former Kate Middleton and her rise from ingenue princess to future Queen.

Her 16-year-tenure as a member of Britain’s royal family has quite literally been told with jewels, as each passing year has seen her don ever more important and spectacular heirlooms – reserved only for those at the centre of royal succession.

A princess-in-training was no doubt the ethos behind her very first appearance in one of the Queen’s jewellery treasures.

For her transformation from Miss Middleton to Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge on 29 April 2011, the exquisite but noticeably petite Cartier halo tiara was deemed by the institution as the one most suited for what everyone knew would be a long jewellery wearing career.

Created in 1936 by the legendary French jewellery, the piece was the perfect size for a younger princess – and though gifted to Queen Elizabeth II for her eighteenth birthday in 1944 it became a trademark piece for both Princess Margaret and Princess Anne in their pre-marital days.

For a girl just beginning her royal path, the tiara, which Kate has never worn again, was the ideal beginning.

It took more than a year and a half for Kate to reappear in a second tiara. Arriving at the Annual Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace in November 2013, it was once more to the legacy of a ‘starter princess’ that she turned – opting for the Lotus Flower Tiara – a piece that had (again!) been created for the Queen Mother but most often associated with Princess Margaret in her pre-marital life.

While the Cartier Halo Tiara had struggled to appear visible atop Kate’s veiled head, the Lotus Flower was unmistakable, sitting prominently atop her flowing brown locks – its diamond arches topped with pearls – a confident statement that yet again the still Duchess of Cambridge should be placed, at least in jewellery terms, in direct succession to the family’s most important royal predecessors.

Yet when she reappeared in the tiara two years later at state banquet for President Xi of China, its resurrection was entirely overshadowed when pictures revealed that on her wrist sat one of the most important and most personal jewels in Queen Elizabeth II’s collection.

The platinum and diamond bracelet, made by Philip Antrobus in 1947, had been the then Prince Philip of Greece’s engagement gift to his future wife.

Made from a tiara that had once belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg which she had received from her uncle Tsar Nicholas II of Russia – the piece had only ever been worn by Elizabeth.

It’s emergence on Kate was a coup of the first order, and a sign that she had the unequivocal endorsement of the Queen. That she was wearing on the opposite arm a choker turned bracelet that had once belonged to Queen Mary was just icing on a jewel-laden cake.

In the years since, a succession of pieces have emerged from the royal vaults to be worn again with splendour by the Duchess of Cambridge turned Princess of Wales.

In 2014 the Cartier made Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace, a wedding present to Queen Elizabeth II, and valued at around $85 million, accessorized her midnight blue Jenny Packham gown at the National Portrait Gallery.

In 2015, the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara, a piece made famous by Princess Diana emerged – a clear sign that she, from a jewellery perspective, was the heir to at least this aspect of her mother-in-law’s legacy.

In 2017 she resurrected for use a diamond and ruby floral necklace made by Boucheron and part of the legendary Greville Collection which was inherited by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

A wedding gift to the then Princess Elizabeth, it had disappeared from the Queen’s jewel rotation and dazzled on the low neckline of her pink lace-covered Marchesa gown as Kate played her role in state banquet given for the King and Queen of Spain.

A year later she delved even deeper into royal history when she wore for the first time not only the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II (a bejewelled gift from the sovereign in honour of service) but Queen Alexandra’ Wedding Necklace, a festooned-style necklace complete with eight sumptuous pearls connected by diamonds.

A favourite of the Queen Mother it had been gifted to the then Princess Alexandra of Denmark when she arrived in England to marry Britain’s future King Edward VII. Paired perfectly with the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara, its appearance was a forceful reminder that Kate was now positioned in direct succession to the family’s most important female matriarchs.

Unlike her mother-in-law whose royal career took place when both the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were both making the most of the royal jewellery collection, Kate has acceded to her role as second lady of the land when the playing field is far sparser.

Shimmering in a bespoke Jenny Packham sequined gown complete with asymmetric neckline and a dramatic floor-length sheer cape, Kate crowned her look with one of the treasures of the royal jewel collection: the Oriental Circlet Tiara.

The headpiece containing 2,678 diamonds was made for Queen Victoria in 1853 by Garrard for the princely sum of £2,200.

But it was Victoria’s German-born husband Prince Albert who took the lead on the design front creating a sumptuous headpiece which looked to an India-inspired design of lotus flowers and Mughal arches for its motifs.

The Germanic origins of the tiara’s inception was a canny diplomatic nod to the evening’s guest of honour.

Princess Anne, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Gloucester all rely on their own reserves all of which have been built up personally.

For Kate, who will one day come into possession of all the royal heirlooms on offer, her gradual induction has been, like her carefully choreographed public life, has been a slow but steady evolution designed to build her up in the eyes of both public and palace as the woman who will one day sit beside her husband on the throne.

We are on the cusp of a new royal era, one that will be without doubt be led by a future Queen Catherine.