The UK’s most popular royal engagement ring belongs to Kate Middleton, new research can reveal.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s ring, a 12-carat, oval blue sapphire with a halo of diamonds – famously Princess Diana’s engagement ring before her – pulls in 32,400 – over five times the searches of all royal rings on the list.
With today being Valentine’s Day, creative resource Design Bundles, analysed 25 of the most popular royal engagement rings to discover the most sought-after in the country.
Meghan Markle’s engagement ring is the second most popular in the UK. The Duchess of Sussex’s ring pulls 31,200 searches per year – five times more than the average yearly searches for all royal rings on the list. The six-carat, cushion-cut sparkler – designed by Prince Harry himself and costing an estimated £100,000 – features a centre diamond from Botswana and two smaller diamonds from Princess Diana’s own collection.
The top 10 most popular royal engagement rings in the UK
| Royal engagement ring |
Rank
|
Average estimated yearly searches
|
| Kate Middleton engagement ring |
1
|
32,400
|
| Meghan Markle engagement ring |
2
|
31,200
|
| Princess Margaret engagement ring |
3
|
8,400
|
| Grace Kelly engagement ring |
4
|
7,200
|
| Princess Beatrice engagement ring |
5
|
6,000
|
| Princess Eugenie engagement ring |
6
|
4,800
|
| Queen Mother engagement ring |
7
|
4,800
|
| Queen Elizabeth engagement ring |
8
|
4,200
|
| Princess Anne engagement ring |
9
|
3,600
|
| Wallis Simpson engagement ring |
10
|
2,400
|
The engagement ring belonging to Princess Margaret takes third place, with 8400 searches a year in the UK – well above the average for all rings on the list. The sumptuous ruby trilogy ring, surrounded by smaller diamonds, was designed by her future husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones to resemble a rosebud – after Margaret’s middle name: Rose.
Grace Kelly’s engagement ring is also one of the UK’s most sought after, with 7,200 searches a year in the country. The movie-star turned princess’s ring, given to her by Prince Rainier of Monaco, was a 10-carat, emerald-cut diamond from Cartier, worth nearly £3 million.
Princess Beatrice’s ring – a stunning 3.5 carat diamond, flanked by two smaller diamonds – is the fifth most popular in the UK, pipping her sister Eugenie’s to the post. Given to her by her fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, the ring costs an estimated £78,000 and fetches 6,000 searches a year.
Princess Eugenie owns the sixth most Googled royal engagement ring in the country. The luscious, peach-coloured Padparadscha sapphire, surrounded by a ring of diamonds, rakes in 4,800 searches a month. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother’s engagement ring also pulls in 4,800 searches a month. The Queen Mother, originally presented with a traditional sapphire and diamond ring by King George VI, swapped the ring for a large pearl surrounded by diamonds later in life.
Queen Elizabeth II’s engagement ring is also one of the most popular in the country. The ring, which features a three-carat, round-cut diamond centre stone, pulls in 4,200 searches a year. The Queen’s husband Prince Philip, despite coming from royalty, had been forced to flee his native country of Greece at a young age and his father abandoned his family, leaving him in a less-than-ideal financial situation when he came to propose to the heir to the British throne. The central stone in Queen Elizabeth’s ring plucked is actually an heirloom one, plucked from the tiara of The Queen’s mother-in-law, Princess Alice of Battenburg, which she had managed to keep from her days of royalty.
Princess Anne owns the UK’s ninth most Googled royal engagement ring – although she has been presented with two in her lifetime. Princess Anne’s first ring, given to her by her first husband Mark Philipps, was a trilogy sapphire ring flanked with two diamonds on the side. The second ring, presented to her by Timothy Laurence, is a cabochon sapphire, set with a trio of diamonds on either side.
A spokesperson for www.designbundles.net:
“The royal family have the most enviable collection of engagement rings in the world. With few financial limits and a dazzling inheritance of stunning gems from all eras in history, many in the UK will look to the royals for inspiration when it comes to planning an engagement or proposing to their partner.
“While the majority of loved-up couples will be unable to afford rings which stretch into hundreds of thousands of pounds, as is standard for members of the royal family, this data gives us a clear idea of which royal ring might be most imitated when it comes to cut, colour and choice of stone. Despite the fact that Meghan Markle’s engagement ring is the most Googled across the globe, Kate Middleton’s ring – formerly Princess Diana’s – reigns supreme in the UK, fetching the most searches every year”
