MEGHAN Markle was recently revealed to have “blinged up” her engagement ring from Prince Harry, but she isn’t the first royal to have done so with Diana also making alterations.

The late Princess of Wales had the iconic sapphire ring redesigned after it was presented to her by Prince Charles when he proposed in 1981 during a private dinner at Buckingham Palace.

The couple announced their engagement a few weeks later, with Diana showcasing the sparkler which she had picked out herself.

Initially the blue stone, which is surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds, had just eight prongs, two in each corner.

But as little as two years later the ring had received a makeover.

Hello! reports that a further six prongs were added to the ring, and though it is unclear why it is likely to secure the stone.

The ring, which now belongs to Kate Middleton after Prince William proposed with it, was created by Garrard & Co and was initially worth £28,000.

It is now valued at around £300,000.

It comes after we revealed that Meghan had the ring that Prince Harry designed for her, blinged up.

The Duchess of Sussex's stunning sparkler even features two of the late Princess Diana's diamonds – but less than two years later, it's undergone a dramatic transformation.

The stunning sparkler originally had a thick gold band which beautifully offset the row of three diamonds.

However, Duchess seems to have reset her ring with a much thinner, diamond-studded micro-pave gold band.

During the couple's engagement interview in 2017, Prince Harry revealed he had specifically chosen a gold band for Meghan's original ring based on her jewellery collection.

He said: "The ring is obviously yellow gold because that's her favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection, to make sure she's with us on this crazy journey together."

Along with incorporating two of his late mother's jewels into the intricate design, Botswana is an extremely special place for the royal couple as they jetted off to the country for a romantic African holiday on her 36th birthday ahead of their engagement.

Speaking to Fabulous Digital, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, Ingrid Seward, explained she "found it odd" that the Duchess of Sussex, 37, would change her engagement ring.

"I find it a bit odd Meghan would want to alter a ring that her husband had especially designed for her," she said.

"A royal engagement ring is a piece of history not a bit of jewellery to be updated when it looks old fashioned."

In other royal news, we revealed how Meghan's "eternity ring" was an anniversary gift from Prince Harry and contains the couple and Archie's birthstones.

And we revealed that the couple have forked out up to £5,000 for a copper bathtub to be installed in their home of Frogmore Cottage.

Source: Read Full Article