Royal engagement rings

[Principessa]

The engagement of Máxima and Willem-Alexander was officially announced in The Hague on March 30, 2001. The couple appeared in a televised press conference with Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus, during which Maxima spoke in Dutch. The press conference gave the world the first glimpse of Maxima’s engagement ring, which features a rare orange diamond.
Willem-Alexander had turned to Steltman, a Dutch jewelry firm, to make the special ring. The centerpiece of the white gold ring is an unusual oval-cut orange diamond, which is flanked by a pair of emerald-cut white diamonds. Two rows of pave-set diamonds hug the central portion of the ring.



While many royals wear their engagement ring exclusively on one hand (usually the left), Maxima has been photographed wearing her ring on both her left and right hands. This may be because of the blended traditions that Maxima and Willem-Alexander have brought to their family. In the Netherlands, Catholic people often wear their rings on their left hands, while Protestants often wear the rings on their right hands. Willem-Alexander is Protestant, while Maxima was raised in the Catholic Church. Above, Maxima wears her engagement and wedding rings together on her left hand.

The center stone of the ring is something of a marvel. Orange diamonds are among the rarest in the world. The choice of the color was deliberate: it references the House of Orange-Nassau, which is the name of the Dutch royal dynasty. The title bestowed on the heir to the Dutch throne is Prince (or Princess) of Orange, and Willem-Alexander was Prince of Orange at the time of their engagement and wedding. The name of the royal house is a reference to a place (the town of Orange, which is in Avignon in the south of France), not the fruit or the color, but the family understandably later adopted the color orange as one of their symbols. Maxima wears lots of clothing and jewelry in the color orange, but this ring is perhaps one of the most special and valuable of all the orange pieces that she owns.


Source:
https://www.thecourtjewel...parkle-queen-maximas.html

[LadyBunion]

interesting photos!

I see Madeleine likes square diamonds - both rings look to be this shape

Stephanie's ring needed adjusting - it is huge!

Love the photo of Fabiola and Baudoin - so relaxed in a comfy cardie

[Gemsheal]

Great thread 👏!

I like the ring Madeleine received from Chris, the best.  Even after seeing all the others (and there are some royal rocks out there!).  I like square-cut stones.

I can't decide if Camilla's ring is just old and special, or it needs a cleaning. 

Mary adding diamonds to hers is just tacky, but it figures! 

[Principessa]

Great thread 👏!

I like the ring Madeleine received from Chris, the best.  Even after seeing all the others (and there are some royal rocks out there!).  I like square-cut stones.

I can't decide if Camilla's ring is just old and special, or it needs a cleaning.  

Mary adding diamonds to hers is just tacky, but it figures!  

Camilla's ring is, as far as I know, a ring of the Queen Mother.
In other words a ring of Charlie's maternal grandmother.


When Clarence House first announced Charles and Camilla's engagement in February of 2005, they only confirmed that the ring was a royal family heirloom—but the piece is widely believed to have come from the Queen Mother's collection.

The platinum Art Deco design features a five-carat emerald-cut diamond at its center with additional baguettes on the sides, and while it was not the Queen Mum's engagement ring, she was seen wearing the design in the 1980s. It is unclear who, if anyone, owned the ring before the Queen Mother, or where it was made.




Source: https://www.townandcountr...ment-ring-prince-charles/


The platinum design features a five-carat emerald-cut diamond at its centre, and the Queen Mother was seen wearing the design in the 1980s.

It is unclear who owned the ring before the Queen Mother, or where it was made.

The family heirloom is likely worth more than the ring Prince Harry proposed with to Meghan Markle, and Prince William the same with Kate Middleton.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk...a-prince-charles-pictures

[Principessa]

Royal ladies who have changed their engagement rings from Meghan Markle to Princess Diana


https://www.hellomagazine...ngagement-rings-jewels/1/


Meghan:




Diana:





Mary:





Grace:



American actress Grace Kelly was originally proposed to with a ruby and diamond eternity ring by Cartier. However, Prince Rainier III of Monaco wanted to give her something bigger, so he then bought her another Cartier engagement ring; this time a 12-carat emerald cut diamond flanked with two baguettes on either side.

[Principessa]

https://www.townandcountr...s-royal-engagement-rings/

The Most Famous Royal Engagement Rings in Recent History

[Paulina]

Favorites: Camilla’s, Beatrice, Madeleine, QE2,

[fairy]

I don't find Mary's idea to flank the engagement ring with two additional diamonds tacky.
I think there are possibly two schools of thought here:
One believes the engagement ring should stay the very way it was when it was given.
The other believes it is possible to enlarge, enhance or change it once life changes. So to add two stones to commemorate the children IMO is fine. I got a ring for the first Miss Fairy (never had an engagement ring) and once the other two girls arrived it was turned into a classic three-stone ring design.
I also received the engagement ring of a dear friend and had it reshaped on a broader band as I found the original band far too thin for the design.

[PruNordstrom]

The gold double bands on Diana's ring (right photo) looks to be a ring guard to keep the blue stone ring from turning around on the finger or sliding down the finger. The blue stone ring is inserted between two bands. It appears to be one band when viewed from the underside of the hand.
 

[Aubiette]

My goodness there are some fugly rings in this thread. I’m not a fan of colored stones for engagement rings personally so that is part of it. I do like Elizabeth’s and Bea’s.
Mary actually improved hers somewhat because it was awful before.
Marie’s is the worst. 

[jolene]

I do like colored stones in engagement rings (my ring is all diamonds though), but Max's is a bit weird. Strange orientation of the center stone. Marie's is the worst and I do like the extra diamonds on Mary's.

[emtishell]

Great thread 👏!

I like the ring Madeleine received from Chris, the best.  Even after seeing all the others (and there are some royal rocks out there!).  I like square-cut stones.

I can't decide if Camilla's ring is just old and special, or it needs a cleaning. 

Mary adding diamonds to hers is just tacky, but it figures! 

Apart from being the QM's, it's also platinum, which is a duller metal IMO

[emtishell]

interesting photos!

I see Madeleine likes square diamonds - both rings look to be this shape

Stephanie's ring needed adjusting - it is huge!

Love the photo of Fabiola and Baudoin - so relaxed in a comfy cardie

Madeleine's first one looks to be rectangular, hard to tell the cut most likely emerald. Her second is an Asscher cut, which is absolutely beautiful and takes a lot of skill to do.