Madeleine Albright, who died on March 23, 2022, at the age of 84, met many important world leaders and political figures in her tenure as the first female secretary of state. But only one, Queen Elizabeth, shared her love for accessorizing. Both women are noted for wearing attention-getting brooches that were often chosen with special meaning in mind. At the time, she was tasked with helping maintain the conditions of the ceasefire of the Persian Gulf War — conditions that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was trying to flout. On the spur of the moment, Albright decided to wear a pin with a snake on it to a meeting with Iraqi officials as her “way of sending a message,” she said.
