The Story Behind Meghan Markle's Newly Redesigned Engagement Ring
Update 7/1/2019: Over the weekend, reporter Omid Scobie revealed some behind-the-scenes details of Meghan's newly designed engagement ring in Harper's Bazaar.
He shared that Prince Harry designed Meghan's new eternity band, which was a gift in honor of both the royal couple's one-year anniversary, and the birth of their first child, with jeweler Lorraine Schwartz. Schwartz also reportedly resized and reset her engagement ring with a sparkly new band. "Meghan was touched [by Harry's gift]," a source said.
Original 6/23/2019: Earlier this month, the Duchess of Sussex made her first public appearance following the arrival of her son Archie at Trooping the Colour. Naturally, all eyes were on Meghan at the Queen's annual birthday parade, and royal watchers swiftly noticed a stunning new ring on her finger: a diamond eternity band, which was likely a present from her husband Prince Harry in honor of either the birth of their first child or their one-year wedding anniversary.
But in all the excitement over Meghan's new gift, another significant jewelry story was overlooked: Meghan appears to have redesigned her three-stone engagement ring.
In photos from Trooping the Colour, the ring looks like it has been reset, and now features a thin micro-pavé band, as opposed to the original solid yellow gold one. It's difficult to tell if the diamonds were altered as well.
See a comparison of the two rings here:
It's unclear when these changes to the ring were made, as Meghan opted not to wear her engagement band during the final months of her pregnancy, possibly because her fingers had swelled. (There's also a small chance that this is an entirely new ring, designed for Meghan to wear as her body transitions after pregnancy.)
A second look at pictures from baby Archie's first photo call reveals that she was wearing the new design then as well.
Meghan is known to favor dainty jewelry, and perhaps the redesign stemmed from a desire to have a cohesive set of three rings: her engagement ring, her simple Welsh gold wedding band, and her new eternity ring.
Prince Harry originally worked with jewelers Cleave and Company to custom design Meghan's ring using one diamond originally from Botswana and two smaller stones from Princess Diana's collection.
"The ring is obviously yellow gold because that's [Markle's] favorite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewelry collection, to make sure that she's with us on this crazy journey together," Harry said during the couple's first sit-down interview with the BBC, shortly after they announced their engagement.
Meghan was clearly touched by how Harry incorporated his mother's legacy into the ring.
"Everything about Harry’s thoughtfulness and the inclusion of [Princess Diana’s stones] and obviously not being able to meet his mom, it’s so important to me to know that she’s a part of this with us," Meghan said.
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