The Princess of Wales brought a rarely seen royal wedding gift back into public view during Tom Cruise’s London premiere, pairing its century-old history with a modern purple gown and jewels associated with Princess Diana.
What happened at the Digger premiere
Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore the Queen Mother’s Amethyst Sautoir Necklace at the world premiere of Digger in London on September 22. Kensington Palace identified the jewel, while Catherine’s purple Jenny Packham gown created a deliberate color link with its amethysts.
Prince William joined her at the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square event, where the couple met Tom Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The appearance combined three distinct stories: a major film premiere, a charity tradition dating to 1946, and the return of a necklace with a direct connection to the Queen Mother’s 1923 wedding.
The key details at a glance
| Detail | Confirmed information |
|---|---|
| Event | Digger world premiere and the 73rd Royal Film Performance |
| Date and place | September 22, 2026, ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, London |
| Historic jewel | The Queen Mother’s Amethyst Sautoir Necklace |
| Royal origin | A 1923 wedding gift from Queen Alexandra to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |
| Previous public sighting | Queen Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, at the Skyfall premiere in 2012 |
| Charity beneficiary | The Film and TV Charity |
| Digger release | October 2, 2026 in UK and Ireland cinemas and IMAX |
Why the amethyst necklace is historically important
The necklace is not simply an inherited purple jewel. According to the documented history of the amethyst sautoir, Queen Alexandra gave it to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon when she married the Duke of York in 1923. The couple later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and their elder daughter became Queen Elizabeth II.
Its design is unusually elaborate. A heart-shaped amethyst anchors three strands of pearls, while oval amethysts framed by diamonds add color and movement. The piece reads as both a necklace and a formal court jewel, which helps explain why it appears so rarely in modern royal dressing.
A note displayed with the wedding gifts at St James’s Palace recorded Queen Alexandra’s gift to her future granddaughter-in-law. Reports also associate the necklace with the Queen Mother’s period of mourning after Queen Alexandra died in 1925. That history gives Catherine’s appearance more weight than a routine wardrobe repeat.
A jewel seen only a handful of times
The sautoir’s scarcity is central to the story. Published accounts indicate that it had been seen publicly only twice in roughly a century before Catherine wore it. It is therefore better described as rarely seen than as a familiar part of the royal collection.
Its most recent well-documented appearance came in 2012, when Queen Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, wore it to the Skyfall premiere. Catherine’s 2026 outing placed the same jewel back on a cinema red carpet 14 years later, creating a clear visual link between two generations of royal film appearances.
The return does not by itself establish permanent ownership. Royal jewels can be loaned from family or collection holdings, and public reporting has not provided a new ownership statement. The secure claim is that Catherine wore the Queen Mother’s necklace, not that it has been transferred to her.
Catherine also referenced Princess Diana
Catherine paired the necklace with Collingwood diamond-and-pearl earrings associated with Diana, Princess of Wales. The earrings are far more familiar than the amethyst sautoir, but together the pieces created a layered family story without requiring matching jewels from a single set.
The styling worked because the historic elements were easy to read: amethyst against purple fabric, pearls echoed in the earrings, and a clean gown shape that left space for the necklace. It was a high-impact red-carpet look, but the jewellery carried the real narrative.
Tom Cruise reunited with William and Catherine
The premiere also renewed a familiar red-carpet connection. William and Catherine previously joined Cruise at the 2022 London premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. Their appearance at the Digger event brought the group together again four years later.
William’s role as president of BAFTA adds an established film-industry context to such appearances. The evening was not a conventional promotional stop for the royal couple, however. It was staged as the Royal Film Performance, linking the premiere to support for people working across British film, television and cinema.
What the Royal Film Performance supports
The Royal Film Performance began in 1946 and raises money for the Film and TV Charity. The charity provides practical and emotional support to people behind the screen, including a 24-hour support line and financial wellbeing services.
Digger was the 73rd edition of the event. That purpose matters because a premiere can otherwise look like a purely ceremonial celebrity gathering. Ticket income and attention generated by the night help fund services for workers across an industry known for freelance employment, irregular income and periods of insecurity.
What to know about Digger
Digger is an original film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, with Cruise playing Digger Rockwell, a powerful man trying to present himself as humanity’s savior before a disaster of his own making destroys everything. The Film and TV Charity’s official premiere announcement lists Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons among the supporting cast.
The film was shot in VistaVision and completed production and post-production work in the UK. Warner Bros. confirms that it opens in cinemas and IMAX across the UK, Ireland and North America on October 2, with international releases beginning September 30.
For the premiere, however, the most enduring image was not a costume from the film. It was Catherine’s revival of a necklace created for a royal bride in 1923, returned to a cinema red carpet more than a century later.
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