Forever in Our Hearts: The Sapphire that Embodies Diana's Legacy

Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married in 1981, even though I was too young to really see the impact her ring had on the world during the eighties, I did see it during the nineties.

And ever since, I am always looking in display windows, especially when I travel. I have seen it in London, (of course) in Florence, Rome, Barcelona, Mexico City, Paris, and all over the U.S.

I believe it will never go out of style! Because of Diana, the world fell in love with her ring because they fell in love with Diana, and she had great taste.

The ring consists of 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-karat white gold. It was created by jeweler Garrard and cost at the time, 28,000 pounds sterling.

Diana's selection of this ring was unusual. It was neither custom-made nor unique and was, at the time of her engagement to Charles, featured in Garrard's jewelry collection and available to anyone for purchase. Some commentators say Diana selected it because it reminded her of her mother's engagement ring.

Jewelry historian Leslie Field stated: "She [Diana] had obviously already said she would like a sapphire; she had half a dozen rings [to select from] and she chose this one purely because she liked it."
Fields continued: "Somebody came up with the story that she immediately went for the biggest, but I asked her and she told me it definitely wasn't the biggest, she simply thought it was very beautiful."