15 Royal Engagement Rings Guaranteed to Make Your Jaw Drop
From the Queen Mum to Meghan Markle, these are history s most stunning royal rings.
When Buckingham Palace shared engagement portraits of Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Princess Beatrice of York, the princess’s ring was on full display. Like all royal engagement rings, it was a stunner that caught the eye of jewelry aficionados around the world. Princess Beatrice s ring was the handiwork of Shaun Leane, a Mayfair jeweler known for his collaborations with Alexander McQueen, and features two .75-carat baguette diamonds flanking a 2.5-carat round diamond.
Her sister’s royal engagement ring also turned heads. When Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank released their official engagement photos, one couldn’t help but notice her blush-colored padparadscha sapphire royal ring. Surrounded by diamonds, the rare gemstone, which is known for its unique pink-orange glow and most typically found in Sri Lanka, bore a striking resemblance to the ring her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, received from Prince Andrew in 1986. Of course the royal family is known for passing down family heirlooms as tradition, so a nod to the jewelry worn by her mother decades earlier seemed only an appropriate choice.
Royal engagements have offered many thoughtful ring moments over the years. When Prince Harry’s engagement to Meghan Markle was announced in 2017, it was revealed that two smaller stones on her engagement ring in fact belonged to Harry’s mother, Princess Diana. He included them as a way “to make sure she is with us on this crazy journey together.” Similarly Prince William reportedly carried his mother’s sapphire engagement ring with him in his backpack for three weeks before asking Kate Middleton to marry him in 2010. (Minutes after Middleton appeared wearing it for the first time, jewelry stores around the world started getting calls from clients looking for something similar.)
And what about the rest of the British royal family? Check out the best royal engagement rings.
Photo: Getty Images1/15The Queen Mother
The Duke of York gave Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (aka Queen Elizabeth II’s mother, who later in life was referred to as the Queen Mother or Queen Mum) a sapphire ring (which is something we’ll see given to Windsor brides again and again as we make our way down the family tree). The ring had diamond accents and was complemented by a Welsh gold wedding band. Eventually, she decided to swap out her engagement ring for a large pearl surrounded by diamonds.
Photo: Getty Images2/15The Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson
Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry twice divorced American Wallis Simpson, presenting her with a 19.77-carat emerald ring. The inside of the ring was inscribed with the words: “We are ours now 27 x 36.” The numbers are shorthand for the date he proposed, October 27, 1936.
Photo: Getty Images3/15Queen Elizabeth II
The diamonds for Queen Elizabeth II’s engagement ring came from a tiara belonging to Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Andrew of Greece. Prince Philip designed the square-cut diamond engagement ring with diamond side stones and had it set in platinum. The queen still wears this ring every day, paired with her Welsh gold wedding band.
Photo: Getty Images4/15Princess Margaret
Five years after her engagement to Group Captain Peter Townsend fell apart, Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, received a ruby engagement ring that was designed by her future husband, photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. The ruby surrounded by diamonds was created to look like a rosebud in honor of the princess’s middle name: Rose.
Photo: Getty Images5/15Princess Diana
Princess Diana got what most women really want—to pick her own ring. In 1981, Prince Charles presented her with a selection from Garrard (the then crown jeweler). He asked her to choose her favorite, and she opted for an Ceylon sapphire stone surrounded by diamonds set in white gold—which also happened to be a stock item. Critics—including some in the royal family—were unhappy that the future princess selected something that by most standards wasn’t considered unique and also wasn’t bespoke. (The ring was featured in Garrard’s catalog, so anyone with $60,000 at the time could have purchased the same ring for themselves.) Some insist she chose it because it was the biggest. Others claim it wasn’t and that it simply reminded her of her mother’s engagement ring. Regardless, the princess loved it so much that she continued to wear the royal engagement ring on occasion after her divorce from Prince Charles.
When Princess Diana died, the ring reportedly went to Prince Harry, while Prince William inherited a Cartier watch. Harry later decided that the ring should be on the finger of the future Queen of England, so the brothers exchanged heirlooms. Some say they actually made a deal that whichever brother got married first would give the ring to his fiancée—either way, it ended up on Kate Middleton’s finger.
