Camilla's brooch blunder

The Duchess of Cornwall has taken a shine to a jewel-encrusted brooch given to the Queen Mother on her 100th birthday ... only Camilla is wearing it upside down.

The brooch, thought to have languished in storage since the Queen Mother's death, has now found a home on Camilla's lapel.

Prince Charles's new bride may not have realised, however, that it is based on a fisherman's fly and what may be mistaken for feathers sprouting out of a crown is actually the tail and back end of a fly.

The Pearl of the Dee brooch ought to be sported with the tail pointing down. Camilla has taken to wearing it with the tail facing skywards. The Queen Mother was a keen fly fisher and the brooch was a gift from the Salmon and Trout Association, of which she was the patron.

Camilla has worn the brooch at least twice - once for her official engagement photograph and then for her first royal duty since getting married when she opened a children's playground last week.

It was spotted in a photograph in the Standard by its designer, Rachel Jeffrey, 32.

"She is wearing it upside down," said Ms Jeffrey, whose studio is in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. "I designed it to wear the other way up."

The jewel cost about ?2,500 to make. It is formed of solid 18-carat gold with pearls at the top and bottom. The central lattice work is encrusted with sapphires, emeralds and rubies to represent the Queen Mother's racing colours, and the wings are set with diamonds.

"I never saw the Queen Mum wear it," added Ms Jeffrey. "Her equerries wrote us a lovely letter to say she was delighted with it. But I didn't know what happened to it. I am delighted Camilla is wearing it."

It is Ms Jeffrey's second boost from the royal household. She set up her business with a ?5,000 Prince's Trust loan. A Clarence House spokesman said: "The brooch is a family heirloom which has been lent to the duchess rather than given.

She likes it very much."