Kate Middleton’s First Jewelry Collaboration Began with a Call a Designer Thought Was a ‘Prank’ (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Kate Middleton and Claudia Bradby collaborated on a necklace for Junior Jigsaw in 2007

• The Mother and Child Pendant Necklace features three charms and has become a bestseller for the British jewelry brand

• The jeweler, who is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the eponymous brand, recalls being impressed by the royal’s “quiet nature” and “discretion”

Kate Middleton’s love story with pearls started two decades ago.

Then, the 25-year-old future royal collaborated with jewelry designer Claudia Bradby on a chic pearl necklace, which is still a bestseller for the brand to this day.

“I had read that she had started working as a buyer for Junior Jigsaw, so I simply wrote her a letter saying that I would be very interested in working with her on a jewelry collaboration,” the jeweler tells PEOPLE. “I can still remember the phone going, answering it and thinking it might be a prank!”

For Bradby, who had started her business from her kitchen table five years before, she was delighted to have the opportunity to work with Kate, who at the time was dating Prince William. “It was thrilling to get a big brand like Jigsaw stocking my jewelry and to have this added sprinkle of magic working with someone associated with the royal family — it was wonderful.”

When it came to ideas, Kate was very specific about the product she had in mind.

“She wanted to develop a necklace with charms that a mum could buy for herself and her daughter, for them to wear together, which I thought was a lovely idea,” recalls the British jeweler whose designs have been worn by Kate, her sister Pippa Middleton as well as the actress Helen Mirren and singer Sam Smith.

The end result was a chic but simple silver necklace with three charms: a silver nugget, a rose quartz and a pink pearl, which they called the Mother and Child Pendant Necklace. “She came up with the idea, which I think had been inspired by a Links of London piece she had seen. She really wanted it to have a simple, clean aesthetic.”

The design of the necklace, which now retails for approximately $182, has evolved since its 2007 conception (it now has two charms instead of three) to become one of the brand’s bestsellers, and Bradby says its appeal is wide-reaching: “People buy it for whoever they love, not just their children, sometimes even their dogs! But of course, that mother-child connection is so powerful, and it’s a beautiful piece that still represents that sentiment to this day.”

Feeling that sense of symbolic and sentimental connection to her children through her jewelry is something that clearly still resonates with Kate, as over the years she has purchased and been gifted several necklaces and charms that have been personalized with the initials of her children, Prince George, Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis.

As to what it was like working with the future Princess of Wales, Bradby says it was easy and straightforward. Behind the scenes, however, there was clearly tension as shortly after their collaboration, as Kate and William broke up for a short period of time.

“Looking back on it now, it must have been a crazy situation for her to be in, to be having a relationship with the future heir to the throne, and this was her first ever job out of university,” she says. “It felt normal at the time, and there was certainly no sign of the pressure she must have been under.”

One day meeting Kate for breakfast at the Chelsea restaurant Bibendum, Bradby noticed one key quality. “She is obviously a very beautiful and striking woman, but you know how some people can occupy a lot of space and some people go quietly? I remember thinking she had a charming and quiet nature about her.”

While Kate has continued to grow in confidence and find her stride within her royal role, Bradby believes this quiet strength will continue to prove invaluable to her as the couple prepares for their next chapter. “I think that ability to understand discretion, it’s a key quality that has served her well all these years later.

To celebrate the brand’s 25^th anniversary, the jeweler has re-launched another pearl necklace from the archives: her Coin Pearl Charm Adjustable Cord Necklace, one of Bradby’s original designs crafted with organic-shaped freshwater coin pearls.

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As for Kate, her love of pearls continues to this day, whether it’s vintage faux pearls worn or borrowed heirloom pieces from the royal vaults.

“Pearls have always been the ultimate power and status symbol for the royals, and I personally think pearls are the perfect look for her — understated and elegant and with a nod to history,” Bradby says. “She really wears them well.”

Read the original article on People