Stunning engagement rings inspired by royalty

It is believed that the first bejewelled engagement ring was presented by Archduke Maximilian of Austria to his future bride in 1477. Engagement rings only truly became popular, however, in the early 1800s, helped along by Prince Albert designing and giving Queen Victoria a gold ring featuring diamonds, rubies and an emerald, styled in the form of a serpent – a symbol of wisdom and commitment. Since then, the design choice of regal engagement rings have reverberated into contemporary pieces available today, with brides adorning their vena amoris with inspiration taken from these original royal influencers. Read on for Tatler’s pick of the most glittering rings fit for a royal.

Queen Elizabeth II – Diamond Solitaire

In July 1947, the late Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark presented the future Queen Elizabeth II with a ring by Philip Antrobus. The Prince helped to design the ring using diamonds that originated in a tiara belonging to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg. The ring features a three carat central white diamond solitaire with five small diamonds mounted each side set in platinum. The style of a central diamond solitaire still accounts for 85 per cent of engagement ring choices today.

Empress Josephine and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark – Toi et Moi

The romantic setting of the Toi et Moi style of ring features two stones set in opposite directions. In 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte presented his bride-to-be, Josephine, with an engagement ring featuring two pear-shaped stones, a blue sapphire and a white diamond set in gold. In later years, Empress Josephine’s ring was passed through the generations until being sold at auction to a private buyer in 2013 – fetching nearly a million pounds, 50 times the estimated price. In 1966, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, an eighth generation descendent of Empress Josephine and third cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, was presented with a slightly larger version featuring six carat twinned cushion cut diamonds designed by Van Cleef and Arpels.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands – East/West setting

Despite some controversy surrounding Maxima being the daughter of a senior ranking officer of the Argentinian Videla dictatorship, she and Prince Willem-Alexander became engaged in 2001 with a ring featuring a rare orange diamond – a fitting tribute to the House of Orange-Nassau – the reigning house of the Netherlands. The East/West set diamond is flanked by two white diamonds and two diamond pave bands. Similarly, twice engaged Princess Madeleine of Sweden firstly wore an emerald cut diamond solitaire in an East/West setting with a pavé band.

Princess Alexandra and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece – Cabochon

Already having a well established association with royalty, the cabochon has seen a recent revival in popularity. The Imperial State Crown itself hosts a red cabochon spinel known as the Black Prince’s Ruby, believed to have been worn in the helmet of King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. Royal bridesmaid and first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Alexandra was proposed to in 1962 by Sir Angus Ogilvy with a giant cabochon sapphire set in a yellow gold band flanked by a diamond on either side. In 1995 Marie-Chantal Miller became engaged to Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, son of King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie, with a ring featuring a cabochon cut blue sapphire, a family heirloom, with a heart shaped diamond set to one side.

Wallis Simpson – Emeralds

After a 325-day reign, King Edward VIII abdicated, declaring, ‘I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love’ – and by so doing became the Duke of Windsor, free to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite, which he did six months later in June 1937. Wallis had a whopping 19 carat emerald engagement ring set by Cartier, inscribed with the words, ‘We are ours now 27 x 36,’ widely believed to represent the day and year of his proposal. In 1958, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the Duchess returned the ring to Cartier, asking for it to be brought up to date with a more elaborate gold setting. To this day it remains one of the more expensive and unusual royal engagement rings with a purchase price equating to £700,000 today.

The Duchess of Cornwall – Art Deco

In 2005 Clarence House announced the engagement of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, eldest child of Major Bruce Shand and his wife Rosalind Cubitt, the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. As an engagement ring, Charles presented Camilla with a family heirloom, believed to have come from the Queen Mother’s collection, an Art Deco style ring featuring a five carat emerald cut diamond at its centre with additional diamond baguettes on each side. The marriage was to have been on 8 April 2005, but was delayed by one day to allow the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.