How Princess Kate’s Iconic Engagement Ring Inspired a New Trend
We’re all very familiar with the Princess of Wales’ (formerly known as Kate Middleton) engagement ring and the story behind it.
The stunning ring Prince William gave his bride once belonged to his mother. It’s a 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire set in 18-carat white gold, surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds, and one of the most recognizable engagement rings in the entire world. And with Kate wearing it for the last 15-plus years, a new trend of rings for other high-profile celebrities and fans has taken over.
Ruth Mary Chipperfield is a jewelry designer, focusing on heirloom redesigns, alternative engagement rings, and jewelry crafted with personal storytelling. She is also a recipient of one of The Guardian’s top small businesses industry awards. Now, she’s explaining what trend makes this a timeless choice for an engagement ring, and is sharing other details about the iconic piece.
Speaking on behalf of Heart Bingo, Chipperfield told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “Kate’s ring is what’s called a halo ring, and that means you’ve got a stone in the middle, which in this case is the 12-carat blue sapphire, and then diamonds around the side. Practically, that’s a good design because diamonds are particularly hard. Having the diamonds around the outside means they absorb knocks a little bit from the sapphire in the middle, which is also a very hard stone and a good stone for an engagement ring.”
When asked if she believes Kate’s ring inspired the trend we see nowadays with colored gemstones, Chipperfield opined, “Yes, it certainly helped. At the time, it had been predominantly all diamonds, but after Kate and William’s engagement, we started to see sapphires, rubies, and more colorful designs become included in designs. The ring is one of the trends that paved the way for many more colored gemstones.”
The expert also shared what makes a sapphire such a good engagement ring stone, explaining, “There’s what’s called the Mohs scale, which describes how hard something is and what can scratch something else. Diamond is number 10, and then beneath that you’ve got ruby and sapphire. Sapphire comes in every single color apart from red, which is classed as ruby.
“Ruby and sapphire are the same stone; they’re just different colors of corundum. People assume sapphire is blue, but you get sapphire in different colors. You can get pinks, greens, yellows and different shades of blue. Sapphires are really good for engagement rings because they’re very hard. Not as hard as diamonds, but they are very hard. When you go lower down the Mohs scale, you get stones that, if you’re wearing them every day, will begin to scratch.”
