Who Has Princess Diana Engagement Ring?

Princess Diana’s iconic sapphire and diamond engagement ring, a 12-carat oval sapphire surrounded by 14 round diamonds set in 18 karats white gold, is now owned by Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton. The ring was first unveiled in 1981 when Diana’s engagement to Prince Charles was announced. It was crafted by London-based jewellery house Garrard.

After Diana’s tragic death in 1997, her sons Prince William and Prince Harry inherited her jewelry collection, including her famous engagement ring. Diana chose the ring from Garrard, a London-based jeweller to the Crown, but it was not a unique or custom-made piece. After Diana’s death in August 1997, the sapphire ring was inherited by her son Prince Harry, who eventually offered it to his older brother Prince William before proposing to Kate Middleton with it in 2010.

The ring is currently valued at approximately £300,000 or around $413,000. The Duchess of Cambridge has worn the ring since her marriage to Prince William in 2011. The ring is one of the most coveted baubles in the world, with a 12-carat oval-cut blue sapphire encircled by round diamonds and set in white gold.

In the sixth and final season of Netflix’s The Crown, Vogue investigates the true story behind the royal ring that spawned countless imitations. The ring is now worn by the Duchess of Cambridge as her own, and the controversy surrounding the ring has continued to shape the royal family’s history.

Who wears Princess Diana’s engagement ring now?

After Princess Dianas passing in 1997, the ring was passed down to her eldest son, Prince William. Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with this sapphire engagement ring from his mother Princess Diana. The Duchess of Cambridge famously pairs her sapphire engagement ring with a Welsh Gold wedding band.

The Duchess of Cambridge famously pairs her sapphire engagement ring with a Welsh Gold wedding band.

The wedding band is a traditional choice for royal wedding bands. The gold used in the ring was sourced from the Clogau St. Davids Gold Mine in Bontddu, North Wales. The use of Welsh gold in royal wedding bands dates back to 1923 when it was first used for the wedding ring of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

More recently, the Duchess of Cambridge has been seen wearing a dainty thin channel set micro pave band which complements her stack beautifully.

Did Dodi buy Diana a ring?

There is evidence Diana was not as interested in Fayed as he was in her. He really did purchase a ring, though its purpose is disputed. And “The Crown” changed one key detail about the ring that makes it almost impossible for anything like the hotel scene to have happened in real life.

Did Meghan Markle get any of Diana’s jewelry?

Meghan has been seen wearing several pieces that once belonged to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana. From her spellbinding engagement ring, to diamond sets and vintage watches, several of the former Princess of Wales jewels have been gifted to Meghan by her husband, Prince Harry.

Take a closer look at some of the priceless jewellery pieces in the royal colleciton in the clip below…

Princess Diana is understood to have written a personal letter of wishes to her sons William and Harry, permitting them to share her precious jewellery with their future wives. I would like you to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it, the Princess stated.

In the five years that Meghan has been married to Prince Harry, weve seen her debut jewellery from Dianas collection, including necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Scroll on to discoverall of Dianas jewels that Meghan has worn in public.

Did Meghan change her ring?

Just 18 months after her engagement, Meghan replaced the original yellow gold band with a diamond-studded one, and now it seems she has upgraded the center diamond once more.

Meghans vanishing ring. The duchess was previously seen without her engagement ring for eight months, leading to widespread speculation about the absence of the jewelry. However, recent appearances, including a photoshoot with friends Kelly McKee Zajfen and Abigail Spencer for the Alliance of Moms, have reignited interest in Meghans ring, with fans noting the apparent size difference in the center stone.

While some fans have defended Meghans right to upgrade her ring, pointing out that many women choose to do so, others have questioned the timing and secrecy surrounding the changes. Despite the speculation, Meghan has not officially confirmed any upgrades to her ring.

What ring did Dodi buy Diana?

Per the 2007 inquest into Dianas death, a ring bearing the inscription “dis-moi oui” (“tell me yes”) was recovered from Fayeds Parisian flat after his death, as well as a receipt, which listed the purchase of a £11,600 (US$14,450) bague de fiançaille (engagement ring) on August 30, 1997, The Guardian reports.

The real-life Mohamed, who died at the age of 94 in August, firmly believed that his son and Diana were engaged before they died and were planning to announce it on September 1, 1997.

‘I never wanted to be Mr. Harrods: Meet Mohamed Al-Fayeds son, Omar Fayed.

Did Diana get to keep her engagement ring?

Jewelry historian Vivienne Becker also spoke toVogueabout Dianas ring for its piece. She said, “It was totally in tune with her style, she was the ultimate Sloane Ranger at the time…Its funny that such a traditional, conventional ring has been so…laden with significance.” And of course, that significance increased all the more when the item of jewelry was passed down to Kate Middleton.It was Prince William who gave Dianas ring to Kate Middleton when the two got engaged in 2010. During the engagement interview, he told the British press, “Its my mothers engagement ring. So I thought it was quite nice because obviously, shes not going to be around to share any of the fun and excitement of it all — this was my way of keeping her sort of close to it all.”Prince William said of the ring itself, “Im not an expert on it at all. Ive been reliably informed its a sapphire with some diamonds. Im sure everyone recognizes it from previous times.” Kate spoke up too, saying, “Its beautiful…I just hope I look after it. Its very, very special.”As soon as the engagement ring was back in the public eye, it had a huge impact on jewelers.Forbesmagazine announced in February 2011, “Nearly three months after the announcement of Middletons engagement to Prince William, the flood of commoners wanting in on the fairytale still has purveyors of the cornflower-blue sparklers scrambling to keep up.”Michael Arnstein, president of the Natural Sapphire Company and supplier to Tiffany & Co., talked to the magazine about it. He said, “November was a record month by far, December was a record month by far, January, still a record month by far…Kates a walking, talking fashion advertisement for the gemstone.”There could be no argument about the impact that the engagement had. But the ring wasnt actually supposed to have been Williams to give to his bride. By all accounts, it was meant to have been Harrys. Both of Dianas sons had been allowed to choose one piece of Dianas jewelry after she died.Diana had always wanted her jewelry to end up with William and Harry so that they could give it to their wives. She wrote in a will before she died, “I would like you to allocate all my jewelry to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it. I leave the exact division of the jewelry to your discretion.”A source close to the royal family told theDaily Starnewspaper in 2017, “William picked his mums Cartier watch, and Harry picked her sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring. They had an agreement that whoever got engaged first would have Dianas ring — and of course, that was William and Kate.”Dianas former butler Paul Burrell has also confirmed this was the case. In a 2021 Amazon Prime documentary,The Diana Story, he said, “Harry said to William: ‘Wouldnt it be fitting if Kate had mummys ring? Then one day that ring will be sat on the throne of England. Harry gave up his precious treasure.”And it was indeed very precious to him. In the documentary, Burrell said that when the young Harry was asked which of Dianas keepsakes he would like, he replied saying, “I remember when I held mummys hand when I was a small boy, and that ring always hurt me because it was so big.”Williams proposal to Kate was much more romantic than the one Charles made to Diana. William described it himself in the 2010 post-engagement interview, telling news agency the Press Association, “We had been talking about marriage for a while so it wasnt a massively big surprise. I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya, and I proposed.”Asked whether he had given the ring to Kate “there and then,” William answered, “I did, yes. I had been carrying it around with me in my rucksack for about three weeks before that, and I literally would not let it go…You hear a lot of horror stories about proposing and things going horribly wrong.”And unfortunately, Charles proposal to Diana sounds a bit like one of those horror stories. As related in Andrew Mortons 1992 bookDiana: Her True Storyshe painted the following scene, “Charles said, ‘Will you marry me? and I laughed. I remember thinking, ‘This is a joke, and I said, ‘Yeah, okay, and laughed. He was deadly serious.”Dianas story continued, “He said, ‘You do realize that one day you will be Queen? And a voice said to me inside, ‘You wont be Queen, but you will have a tough role. ‘Yes, I said, ‘I love you so much, I love you so much. He said, ‘Whatever love means. And so he ran upstairs and rang his mother.”After that quite excruciating experience came the selection of the ring. And according to the Garrard representative who spoke toMarie Clairein 2017, “Prince Charles had always seen this beautiful sapphire brooch of his mothers… he saw that ring, and thought it was perfect.”But Diana chose the ring, too. Why? Sulzberger said during herVogueinterview, “There are a few different theories as to why Diana selected the ring: the color matched her eyes, the Queen may have actually selected it, or as Diana was later quoted as saying, ‘It was the biggest.”Yet it seems unlikely that the Queen was the one who selected it, and thats purely because Diana continued to wear it long after it was required, suggesting it was a possession that held sentimental value for her. After she and Charles split up she didnt return the ring — instead wearing it for years afterward.Its also worth wondering if Diana knew about the rings connection to Queen Victoria and her wedding jewelry because Victoria and Albert had a famously happy and loving marriage. Perhaps Diana was hoping for a similar relationship in her own life — but of course, we know how things turned out in the end.

Eventually, once her divorce from Prince Charles was finalized, Diana did take off the sapphire ring. But then she got another one, just as spectacular, to put in its place. In the year before her death, she was spotted a couple of times wearing an enormous aquamarine ring where the engagement one had been.The aquamarine was a gift from Lucia Flecha de Lima, the wife of the Brazilian ambassador to the UK. She was one of Diana’s best friends and stood by her during her difficult divorce from Prince Charles. Some say she was like a mother to Diana. In 1996, Diana had the aquamarine placed in a ring by Asprey. The gem was the center stone in a 24-carat gold band with smaller diamonds. It’s a very expensive piece. It also has a matching bracelet. In August 2018, gemologist Grant Mobley told the Daily Express, “The princess was fond of a pearl-and-diamond bracelet featuring a large emerald-cut aquamarine that she was given in her early years as a princess. After her divorce, she commissioned this matching ring.” At the time Diana had the ring commissioned, she would have lost access to the spectacular jewelry she was allowed to wear as Princess of Wales. She may have chosen that aquamarine ring to remind herself and others that she was wealthy. Today, Meghan Markle has the ring. It was Diana’s wish that her jewelry should go to her future daughters-in-law. She wore it on her finger on her wedding day to Prince Harry. Meghan seems to wear it with white clothes. She wore it again in 2018 in Tonga while eating with King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipauu. She was expecting her first child, so it was a good time to honor her late mother-in-law. Gem expert Stone spoke to the Daily Express about the ring in 2021. Aquamarine is a beautiful gemstone. The ring’s pale blue color matched Diana’s skin tone. The aquamarine ring symbolizes feelings of sympathy, trust, and friendship. Both of Diana’s rings have many imitations today. There are cheaper alternatives for people who aren’t princesses. Even 40 years later, the “Diana Effect” influences engagement-ring choices. None of Diana’s jewels will leave the royal family. They’re too sentimental, even if they were linked to difficult times in Diana’s life. Maybe in a few decades, Princess Charlotte or Meghan’s daughter Lilibet will wear the “Commoners Sapphire.”

How much did Dodi pay for Diana’s ring?

A ring with the words “dis-moi oui” was found in Diana’s Paris apartment after her death. It was bought on August 30, 1997, for £11,600 (US$14,450). The Guardian reports this. Mohamed, who died at 94 in August, believed his son and Diana were engaged and planning to announce it on September 1, 1997.

“I never wanted to be Mr. Harrods.” Meet Mohamed Al-Fayed’s son, Omar Fayed.

Did Kate Middleton get Princess Diana’s ring?

The ring was made by Garrard and given to Prince Charles as a proposal to Diana in 1981. In 2010, Prince William gave Kate the ring, which has a 12-carat oval Ceylon surrounded by 14 diamonds. These diamond and pearl earrings were one of Diana’s favorite pieces of jewelry. Kate also likes them. Kate wore the earrings to the 2019 BAFTAs in London. The Duchess of Cambridge wore them again at the 2022 Royal Ascot. She wore them with a polka dot dress to the horse race. The new Princess of Wales wore her late mother-in-law’s earrings at a Remembrance Sunday service in London in 2022.

Who has Diana’s Aquamarine ring?

Description: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, left for her evening reception with a blue ring on her finger. It is Princess Diana’s Aquamarine ring, a gift from Prince Harry. We were all emotional when we saw Meghan Markle, The Duchess of Sussex, leaving for her evening reception with a blue ring on her finger. It was Princess Diana’s Aquamarine ring, a gift from Prince Harry from his mother’s personal collection. The ring is part of a set. There is a matching bracelet Diana wore in 1996. We think Meghan got the whole set, so we’ll keep an eye out for it! The ring is an emerald-cut aquamarine surrounded by small diamonds and set in yellow gold. It was probably made for Princess Diana by Asprey. We were all emotional when we saw Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, leaving for her evening reception with a blue ring on her finger. It was Princess Diana’s Aquamarine ring, a gift from Prince Harry from his mother’s personal collection.

Who has most of Diana’s jewelry?

After Diana’s death, her sons William and Harry inherited most of her jewelry. Pieces loaned to her during her lifetime were returned to Queen Elizabeth II, who probably inherited them from King Charles in 2022. Diana’s daughters-in-law, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, have worn some of her jewelry. Here, Newsweek looks at what happened to some of Princess Diana’s most famous jewels.

The engagement ring. In 1981, Princess Diana bought her engagement ring from the London jeweler Garrard. It was a large oval sapphire set on a white gold band with diamonds around it.

What jewellery did Harry inherit from Diana?

He got her engagement ring, and William got her watch. Harry knew William was getting engaged soon, so he traded with him. William got Diana’s engagement ring, which he gave to Catherine.