Prince William gifted Princess Diana’s stunning sapphire and diamond engagement ring to Kate Middleton in 2010 after proposing marriage. It has had a permanent spot on her finger ever since. However, Kate experiences some hidden struggles wearing the royal heirloom.
Kate Middleton faces unique difficulties wearing Princess Diana’s heirloom
Prince William proposed marriage to Kate Middleton in Africa in late 2010 after dating for almost a decade. The couple wed in April 2011.
Since the day William placed the iconic ring on Kate’s finger, she has faced a hidden struggle. Hello! quoted Ben Roberts, Managing Director of the jeweler Clogau about the hidden challenges Kate faces with the ring.
“Most people don’t know the level of upkeep that wearing an heirloom day-to-day can entail,” Roberts explained. “Even without any alterations, caring for an heirloom of such value comes with its own challenges.”
He continued, “Kate and her team will need to employ careful maintenance, with regular inspections and in-depth evaluations, gentle cleaning to restore sheen, and, if necessary, expert repairs to ensure its longevity. That way, she can continue to wear it every day and maintain a constant connection to the past while grounding her in the present as a beloved senior member of the Royal Family.”
Was William supposed to inherit Diana’s ring?
There have been conflicting reports that Prince William did not directly inherit Princess Diana’s ring. It has been widely reported that the ring belonged to Prince Harry and that he gave it to his brother when William intended to propose to Kate Middleton.
However, Harry debunked that myth in the pages of his autobiography Spare. “The papers published florid stories about the moment I realized Willy and Kate were well matched, the moment I appreciated the depth of their love and thus decided to gift Willy the ring I’d inherited from Mummy, the legendary sapphire,” he wrote.
“A tender moment between brothers, a bonding moment for all three of us, and absolute rubbish. None of it ever happened. I never gave Willy that ring because it wasn’t mine to give. He already had it. He’d asked for it after Mummy died, and I’d been more than happy to let it go.”
Did Princess Diana choose her engagement ring?
After proposing to Princess Diana, then-Prince Charles asked her to pick out an engagement ring. He showed her a selection of rings from Garrard, the crown jeweler.
Diana chose the now infamous Ceylon sapphire ring, surrounded by diamonds and set in white gold. However, what set Diana’s ring apart from other royal engagement rings was that it was a jeweler stock item.
This means that anyone with the money to afford it could have had the same engagement ring as the future Princess of Wales, per Vogue. At the time, the ring was estimated at $60K.
It was reported that Queen Elizabeth was unhappy with Diana’s choice of a common ring. Most royal engagement rings were one-of-a-kind pieces.
The ring has a 12-carat center sapphire encircled by fourteen perfect diamonds. It would go on to inspire a collection by the creator of the ring, called the 1735 collection, featuring a selection of colored stones encircled with diamonds.
“With the 1735 collection, we wanted to capture the elegant classicism of Princess Diana’s ring,” explains the Creative Director at Garrard, Sara Prentice. “The prominent cluster of diamonds has the effect of amplifying the vibrant hue of the colored stones.”
Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. She died one year later in 1997.
