Her Majesty explained how the tiara came to break during a tour of the Buckingham Palace exhibition of Kate Middleton’s wedding gown in 2011.

Speaking about the tiara with Kate, the Queen explained: “The catch, which I didn’t know existed, it suddenly went [gestures with her hands].

“And I didn’t know it was a necklace, you see…I thought I’d broken it…we stuck it all together again, but I was rather alarmed…”

In the book ‘Garrard: The Crown Jewellers for 150 Years’, it is said the Queen Mother calmed Elizabeth down by saying: “We have two hours and there are other tiaras.”