Iliad, in 762 BC; and fragments of pearl jewellery were discovered in the sarcophagus of Persian princess from 420BC, which now resides in the Louvre.
European royals eventually followed suit and adopted their own power pearls. Catherine de Medici carried six ropes "of the largest pearls ever seen" when she travelled to France to be married in 1533; one was later given to her future daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of Scots, and ended up in the collection of Queen Elizabeth I (after she had her cousin executed).
The Virgin Queen became synonymous with the gleaming white gems and wore them for countless portraits - suspended from jewels or ribbons and sewn onto her clothes - as a symbol of her purity and chastity, as well as authority.
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