The Princess of Wales' iconic engagement ring that once belonged to Princess Diana and the Duchess of Edinburgh's sparkling ring from Prince Edward may look very different at first glance, but they have a few key connections.
Prince William inherited his late mother Princess Diana's sapphire and diamond ring after she passed away in a car accident in 1997. After carrying the precious rock around for three weeks, he proposed to his long-term girlfriend Kate while holidaying in Kenya with friends. The Garrard ring features an oval sapphire surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds on a white gold band – an unusual metal considering most other royal brides own platinum bands, which are long-wearing, or yellow gold rings, which match their Welsh gold wedding rings.
One other royal who similarly sports a white gold ring is Duchess Sophie, who was presented with an oval diamond flanked by two smaller, heart-shaped diamonds – a design also created by British royal jeweller Garrard.
In a new study, jewellery experts at Angelic Diamonds have estimated that Kate's 12-carat ring is the most expensive in the British royal family, costing £400,000. Meanwhile, although Sophie's is made of the same shape stone, it is 2 carats and is therefore thought to be worth £110,000.
Kate reportedly needed to resize the band after William proposed because the original design was a little too big. Instead of breaking and resoldering the band itself, jeweller G. Collins and Sons added small platinum beads inside the band to reduce its diameter, which means the changes can easily be reversed.
"It would be easier to think that by adding extra platinum, or by working on something, we increase or decrease its value, however....this item of jewellery is truly unique in the fact that its provenance has increased its true value considerably, and so these minor alterations won't truly affect the price in any way," explained diamond expert Anthony French at Austen & Blake. "Especially with the small cosmetic change being something that can also be removed, and the ring put back to its 'original' state if need be," he added.
It was previously reported that Harry was the one who owned Princess Diana's ring, and he gave it to his elder brother in a sweet gesture before he proposed to Kate. However, the Duke set the record straight in his memoir Spare and said the entire story was "nonsense." William had asked for the sapphire after their mother died in a car crash in France in 1997, which Harry did not object to.
Harry explained that the first time he was aware that his brother was engaged was after he had returned to the UK and Buckingham Palace made the announcement in November 2010. He revealed that the brothers had spent time together during a trip to Lesotho in June, shortly before the royal proposed, but William had not mentioned his plans to get down on one knee.
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