Kate Middleton's Engagement Ring: 11 Facts Behind The Ring

The former and first Crown Jeweller, Garrard, previously revealed to Vogue that Kate Middleton's engagement ring was inspired by a sapphire and diamond brooch beloved by the Queen and made a Crown heirloom by Queen Victoria.

The brooch, made by Garrard, was a gift from Prince Albert to his soon-to-be-bide Queen Victoria in 1840.

'She found she loved it so much that she decided to wear it on her wedding day as her something blue on the front of her dress,' Sara Prentice, Garrard’s current creative director, said.

In her will Queen Victoria ensured her late husband's gift would stay in the hands of the reigning monarch by making it a Crown heirloom. And Queen Elizabeth II became equally enamoured with the brooch, wearing it frequently throughout her reign.

So, when the time came for Prince Charles to put together a selection of engagement rings for his fiancé Princess Diana (more on that later), it's perhaps unsurprising this was one of his chosen few.

'It was said to be a strong influence on Prince Charles when he came to Garrard to purchase a ring for Lady Diana. He actually ended up setting a sapphire cluster ring for her, which was later given by Prince William to the Duchess of Cambridge on their engagement,' Prentice said. 'I would imagine growing up being surrounded by your mother and your grandmother [with] such beautiful, incredible jewellery...it would stick with you.'

Since the brooch is Crown heirloom, Kate will one day own the brooch that inspired her ring when she is Queen consort.

Princess Diana's and Kate Middleton's engagement ring is made up of a 12-carat oval blue sapphire, 14 solitaire diamonds and set in 18K white gold.

Prior to the wedding, Princess Diana's engagement ring was believed to have had eight prongs surrounding the sapphire, while later pictures show 14 - no doubt placed there to further secure the precious stone.

In her will Princess Diana ensured her personal jewels would go to her sons, and therefore their future wives.

She wrote in her 'letter of wishes': 'But 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. I leave the exact division of the jewellery to your discretion.'

It is rumoured that it is only through Prince Harry's generosity that Princess Diana's engagement ring is now Kate Middleton's, and not Meghan Markle's.

Diana's former butler Paul Burrell revealed that when it came to choosing which jewellery items to inherit from their mother, it was Prince Harry who chose the famed ring, while Prince William chose her gold Cartier watch.

Burrell reports in The Diana Story that a young Prince Harry explained the reason for his choice: 'I remember when I held mummy's hand when I was a small boy and that ring always hurt me because it was so big.'

When it came time for Prince William to propose to his university sweetheart, Prince Harry gave his brother, and therefore Kate who he is believed to have been extremely close with, the ring.

'Wouldn’t it be fitting if she had mummy’s ring? Then one day that ring will be sat on the throne of England', recalls Burrell.

Thankfully, Prince Harry ensured some of his mother was also present in Meghan Markle's ring, which includes two diamonds from Princess Diana's personal collection.

As confirmed in Prince William and Kate Middleton's 2010 engagement interview, the young Prince had been carrying the possibly priceless ring around in a rucksack for weeks while on holiday in Kenya.

'I'd been carrying it around with me in my rucksack for about three weeks before that,' Prince William explained. 'I literally would not let it go, wherever I went I was keeping a hold of it because I knew if this thing disappeared I'd be in a lot of trouble.'

Just like Princess Diana before her, the Duchess of Cambridge had the ring altered to ensure its safety. Prior to the couple's April 29, 2011 wedding Middleton reportedly asked new crown jeweller G. Collins and Sons to resize the ring from Diana's size H to Kate's I. They did so by adding platinum beads to the interior of the ring.

While there are reports of the original ring costing either between £28,000 to £47,000 in the 1980s, Kate Middleton's engagement ring costs a heck of a lot more now.

Pre-owned jewellery specialist Est1897 named the ring the most expensive of all the royal engagement rings, estimating its worth to be £390,000 due to its carats and size of the sapphire.

However, due to its cultural importance, who knows what the actual ring could go for if sold at auction!

In 2011 the Duke of Cambridge is believed to have given his wife earrings that match her impressive engagement ring which are also from his mother's collection. Some of Princess Diana's favourite items included the sapphire and diamond earrings which were part of The Saudi Sapphire Suite and gifted to her by the Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia for her wedding.

Princess Diana's earrings had detachable lower sapphires that Kate rarely wore, so in 2020 the Duchess appeared to have had them made into a matching necklace, creating a ring, earring and necklace set to honour her late mother-in-law.