The heartwarming story behind the engagement ring Prince Charles gave to Camilla
CHARLES, Prince of Wales proposed to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in February 2005.
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The couple would wed on April 9. When Clarence House announced the engagement they confirmed the ring was a royal family heirloom. It is platinum Art Deco design with five-carat emerald-cut diamond at its centre and additional baguettes on the sides.
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother wore the ring in the 1980s.
It was not, however, the Queen Mother’s wedding ring.
The ring which King George VI proposed with was a sapphire ring with diamond accents and a Welsh gold wedding band.
According to Town & Country, it is unclear who, if anyone, owned Camilla’s engagement ring before the Queen Mother, or who made it and how it came to be in her collection.
Very little is known about the details of the proposal, but Camilla has confirmed Charles propped down on one knee.
Camilla revealed to the Telegraph at the time: "Of course.
"What else?"
Charles said in a statement: "Mrs. Parker Bowles and I are absolutely delighted.
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Queen Elizabeth II said: "The Duke of Edinburgh and I are very happy that the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles are to marry.”
At the wedding Charles and Camilla exchanged wedding bands of pure Welsh gold as per royal tradition.
According to Vogue, Charles let his first wife, Princess Diana choose her engagement ring.
Diana was presented with the catalogue of then crown jeweller, Garrard.
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She selected a Ceylon sapphire stone surrounded by diamonds set in white gold.
It was this ring that the couple’s eldest son Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge used to propose to Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.
William reportedly had the ring with him for three weeks before he made the proposal at a spartan log cabin on their Kenyan holiday.
The Duke said the ring reminds him of his mother who tragically died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
William explained: “Obviously, she’s not going to be around to share in any of the fun and excitement of it all, so this is my way of keeping her sort of close to it all.”
Prince Philip designed his own engagement for the Queen using diamonds from a tiara belonging to Princess Alice of Battenberg, his mother.
It is square cut with diamond side stones and set in platinum.
Both of Anne, Princess Royal’s engagement rings had sapphire stones, the first from Captain Mark Phillips was set between two diamonds.
Her second from Timothy Laurence, had a cabochon stone flanked by three diamonds on each side.
Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, proposed to Sophie, the Countess of Wessex with a Garrard ring that consists of a 2-carat oval diamond between two smaller heart-shaped gems.