Princess Eugenie vs Kate Middleton: The incredible difference between two similar rings

Both Princess Eugenie and Kate Middleton had lavish weddings, with heads of state, royals and celebrities in attendance. A royal wedding captures the attention of the world, with many fixated on the dresses, flowers, venue and ceremony itself. However, before all of this comes the engagement announcement and the often replicated engagement ring.

Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William became engaged on October 20, 2010, but the happy news was not released to the public until a month later on November 16.

William proposed to Kate while the pair were holidaying in Kenya on a safari trip.

The prince revealed he had been carrying around the expensive engagement ring in his backpack for around three weeks before proposing.

The ring itself is a 12-carat oval blue sapphire, cut into facets, and surrounded by fourteen solitaire diamonds.

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The setting of the ring is made from 18 karat white gold.

It previously belonged to William’s late mother Princess Diana, and he said by giving it to Kate he was making sure his mother was a part of their wedding day.

The ring was £28,000 when Prince Charles bought it in 1981, and the piece new would be worth about £85,000 today.

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank announced their engagement in January 2018, after Jack proposed in Nicaragua that same month.

Jack told the BBC after the announcement was made: ”We had a beautiful volcano, the sun was setting, birds were flying.”

Eugenie added during the joint interview: ”The lake was so beautiful.

“The light was just a special light that I’ve never seen. I actually said, ‘This is an incredible moment,’ and then he popped the question.”

Eugenie’s engagement ring is a similar shape and design to Kate’s but differs in colour.

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Jack chose a pink sapphire for Eugenie, which an expert has valued at around £7,000.

It is one of the rarest sapphires in the world, a padparadscha sapphire, which gets its pink colour from the mixture of its red and yellow make up.

The stone is also known as a “lotus blossom” sapphire and Jack based the design of the ring on the one Eugenie’s dad Prince Andrew proposed to Sarah Ferguson with, in March 1986.

Sarah Ferguson’s ring was a Garrard & Co design that featured a large ruby stone, surrounded by a halo of 10 diamonds.

Sophie Lomax, head of design at 77diamonds.com, told Express.co.uk: “Princess Eugenie’s ring features an oval-cut padparadscha sapphire encircled with a cluster of pear-shaped diamonds.

“Padparadscha sapphires are typically found in Sri Lanka and are one of the rarest colour of sapphire, being a beautiful and unique mix of pink and orange.”

The blue sapphire in Kate’s ring is more common but still beautiful.

Another difference is while Eugenie’s ring is bespoke, Kate’s – originally Diana’s – came from a catalogue.

When Prince Charles proposed, he presented then Lady Diana Spencer with a selection of rings created by Garrard of Mayfair, the Crown Jeweller at the time.

The ring had actually featured in a catalogue which means, according to The Sun that unlike most royal engagement rings, it wasn’t unique.

Despite divorcing Prince Charles in 1996, Diana chose to still wear her engagement ring out of respect for sons William and Harry.