Is Kate Middleton Wearing Princess Diana's Sapphire Earrings in This Buckingham Palace Pic?

Louisa Ballhaus

October 8, 2020 at 2:34 PM

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We all know that Princess Diana’s favorite stone was sapphire, setting off a long tradition of the British Royal Family both paying homage to the late Diana and trying to make their own mark on a stone that’s now become synonymous with the House of Windsor. First inspired by both Diana’s mother’s engagement ring and an old brooch of the Queen’s, her original sapphire engagement ring was passed down to her children when she died, and Prince William offered it to wife Kate Middleton when he proposed. But Diana didn’t simply have that one big sapphire ring — she had many famous pieces of sapphire jewelry, known as The Saudi Sapphire Suite, including her favorite sapphire earrings and a thick, pearl-lined sapphire choker. And photos from Kate and William’s latest Buckingham Palace visit may prove that Kate has remodeled two of Diana’s most famous pieces in her own design.

In the photos from the President and First Lady of Ukraine’s visit, Kate is wearing a sapphire and diamond pendant necklace along with small hanging sapphire and diamond earrings. We’ve seen those earrings before — most recently on a 2019 royal visit to Northern Ireland, pictured below — and we know that William gifted her a pair of Diana’s earrings in 2010.

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A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@kensingtonroyal) on Jan 29, 2019 at 7:35am PST

But fans are now guessing that Kate actually had a larger pair of Diana’s earrings taken apart and fashioned into the necklace and earring set she wears now at this Buckingham Palace visit, the first time we’ve seen the new set together.

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A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@kensingtonroyal) on Oct 7, 2020 at 5:34am PDT

Whatever the case, we can be sure that Diana would be thrilled to see her legacy (and fashion sense) carried on, and there’s something lovely about Kate carrying these stones into a new generation by adding on her own design. That’s not to say we want to see all of Diana’s old jewelry stripped for parts, but we certainly don’t mind the updates Kate’s made on her ring — and looking forward, we could see Princess Charlotte adding her own touch to the collection one day too.

Before you go, click here to see all of Kate Middleton’s best hair looks as a royal.