Despite the Megxit and the Sussesxes distancing themselves from the royal family by moving to a whole different continent, just the slightest of their activity makes the headlines. While Harry’s happy-go-lucky attitude and a flair to be himself, undeterred by the royal standards, made him relatable and inspiration among crowds; Meghan’s similar qualities, alongside a rare mix of star power and being gracefully herself, caught the full attention of media and people’s hearts in no time. When the two started dating, many knew, that for Marry & Meghan, it was written in the stars. Within 2 years of being set up on a blind date, Harry proposed to Meghan with a one-of-a-kind three-stone engagement ring. While the fascination with the couple ensues every detail of their personal & professional life, none has been analyzed, reported, and interested more than Meghan Markle’s engagement ring.
The Original Engagement Ring
Prince Harry proposed to Meghan in November 2017 at Nottingham Cottage, the couple’s then-home and a part of Kensington Palace. “It was a standard typical night for us,” revealed Harry in the couple’s engagement interview with BBC. To which Meghan replied, ”It was a cozy night. We were just roasting chicken,”; “trying to roast a chicken,” Harry added. “It was just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got down on one knee,” she added. Meghan said yes before Harry could finish his proposal speech, the couple revealed in the same interview.
When asked about the details of their engagement ring, the couple happily spilled all the tea. The ring is made in a typical 3-stone setting, which signified the past, present, future of the couple, or friendship, love, and fidelity. The most common setting is a bigger diamond in the middle with two smaller diamonds on the side – because the bigger one signifies the present, the most important phase of a couple’s relationship at any given time. Meghan Markle’s engagement ring has this typical style.
Meghan Markle’s Engagement Ring’s Cushion-Cut Diamond Came From Botswana
The ring features a cushion-cut diamond in the middle, with two smaller diamonds on each side. The bigger diamond is sourced from Botswana – the place where the couple fell head-over-heels for each other. In the royal biography Finding Freedom, it is mentioned that Harry & Meghan were obsessed with each other almost immediately. Their first meeting was a blind date, and the second meeting was the very next day at the same place. On their third meeting, Harry took Meghan to his home Nottingham cottage (where he also proposed btw) before she flew off to Canada for filming Suits. A mere four weeks into knowing each other, Harry took (or “managed to persuade”, as he said in their BBC engagement interview) Meghan on a surprise trip to Botswana. According to the book, this is where the Prince “made his intentions clear” for the Suits actress. The duo spent most of their time in a luxury $2000 a night tent at the Meno a Kwena camp. The relationship took a *fast track* from there, and *I love you’s* were exchanged fairly quickly.
It was here where the seeds of their irrevocable love were sown, and that’s why it seemed fitting to source a diamond for his lady love from the very place their fairytale took off! Harry did the scouting for this conflict-free diamond in Botswana during his travel to the country as a patron of Rhino Conversation Botswana.
Princess Diana Connection
The two smaller diamonds on either side of the cushion-cut stone were part of Princess Diana’s jewelry collection (reported to have been from a brooch owned by her). Looking lovingly at Meghan’s ring during the BBC interview, Harry divulged this heart-warming detail and said, ”to make sure she’s with us on this crazy journey together.”
The setting of Meghan Markle’s engagement ring was done in yellow gold: “because that’s her favorite,” says the Prince in the same interview. The royal designed the ring himself and it was made by Cleave and Company, court jewelers to Queen Elizabeth. It is also a part of the royal tradition to chose an heirloom or a custom-made ring so that it’s inimitable. This is the reason why royals were displeased (at the time) with Princess Diana’s sapphire ring choice because it was a stock item from the Garrard Catalog.
The sapphire ring, by the way, was actually inherited by Harry from Diana, but he gave it to his brother William when he got engaged to Kate Middleton. According to sources, Harry considers Kate to be like her sister and wanted her to have the ring too. Of course, the 12-carat sapphire engagement ring is now the most talked-about ring of all time and it’s hard to put a monetary value on it. So much for being called a *commoner’s ring* at the time.
How many carats is Meghan Markle’s engagement ring?
While the exact carats weight was never formally released by the royal family or spoken about by the couple, jewelry experts can predict the carats with the measurements of the ring. It has been estimated that the center diamond is around 3 carats, and those on the sides are around 1 carat each. This means Meghan Markle’s engagement ring is 5 carats. However, with the redesigning of the ring (mentioned below), experts have predicted the total carats might have gone up to 6!
What is the estimated cost of Meghan Markle’s engagement ring?
While the cost of any diamond can depend heavily on color and clarity, it goes without saying that Harry picked the best quality one for his other half. Considering the same, the center diamond can cost around $140,000. As for the side diamonds, they can cost anywhere around $4000 each. That’s just the intrinsic value, since they belonged to Princess Diana, the worth is priceless, to say the least. After being redesigned with diamond bands, the total cost of Meghan Markle’s engagement ring is reported to be around $160,000. That’s about 3 times less the estimated worth of Catherine’s 12-carats engagement ring. However, it’s believed (and makes sense) that despite the carat, size, color, clarity aside, both rings hold a special place in history – since they once belonged to People’s Princess – and this one element makes both the rings priceless and difficult to put a price on!
Meghan Markle’s Wedding Ring
On May 19, 2018, Meghan Markle & Prince Harry tied the knot in a thousand-year-old St.George’s chapel in Windsor Castle. The fairytale nuptials was watched by 1.9 billion people across the globe and since has become the most-watched royal wedding of all time. There were many awaited moments throughout the ceremony – seeing the bride for the first time, the celebrity guests in attendance, when the bride & groom first saw each other (when we caught the endearing moment when Harry said “you look amazing” and “I am so lucky” to Meghan), and the anticipated wedding rings to exchange. Following the tradition, Meghan’s wedding ring was crafted in Welsh gold and was a gift from Queen Elizabeth. The band was also created by royal jewelers Cleave & Co.
Welsh gold is the rarest kind of gold and hasn’t been mined in over 20 years. It can be priced almost 30 times higher than the standard gold and has a gorgeous, red tint because of the copper ore present in the mineral when it was mined. All the royal brides since the Queen Mother have worn a wedding ring made of Welsh Gold, including Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Anne, Princess Eugenie, and the Queen herself.
The Redesigned Engagement Ring
After the Duke & Duchess of Sussex announced their first pregnancy, Meghan stepped out for royal duties oftentimes without her engagement ring, probably due to swelling of her fingers, which is common among women who are expecting. The next debut of the engagement ring was when the couple introduced their first-born Archie to the world. Despite the upgraded engagement ring and the diamond eternity band making their appearance on that day on her ring finger, the fans and the tabloid didn’t notice and talked about the change until the Trooping of the Color 2019.
Why did Meghan upgrade her engagement ring?
There have been swirls of rumors around why Meghan upgraded her already-perfect engagement ring, with some saying it was because of a change in her finger size due to pregnancy. Taking the opportunity, Meghan haters didn’t miss the opportunity to criticize her saying, “she shouldn’t have altered the ring that her husband so thoughtfully designed for her” and “a royal jewelry is a piece of history and not meant to be upgraded when it feels old-fashioned.” Well, once again they were proven wrong when in the royal biography Finding Freedom it was revealed that the decision to change the ring was of Prince Harry to match the Duchess’ new diamond eternity band – details of which are in the next section.
Meghan’s changed engagement ring featured a thin, yellow gold band with a diamond pavé setting. Earlier, the diamonds were set with a plain yellow gold band.
Diamond Eternity Band
When Meghan’s new engagement ring made a debut, so did her diamond eternity band. An eternity ring is usually given by a spouse to commemorate a special milestone of a relationship like the birth of their first-born child or first wedding anniversary. In Meghan & Harry’s case, it was to mark both these milestones. The band, alongside the redesigning of the engagement ring, was created by jeweler-to-the-stars & Meghan’s favorite Lorraine Schwartz. Prince Harry helped Schwartz design Meghan’s eternity ring with conflict-free diamonds. (Lorraine has also designed engagement rings for Blake Lively, Beyonce, and Kim Kardashian.)
Harry also paid homage to his family by adding birthstones of all three members of the family – Meghan, Archie, and himself (peridot, emerald, and sapphire) on the underside of the ring. Obviously, Meghan was touched by the thoughtful surprise.
