It’s rare to see a royal engagement ring with a flash of green. Emeralds aren’t the most popular choice for royal engagements, but the few that have made the headlines are all quite striking.Here’s our round-up of that rarest of royal sparklers – the emerald engagement ring.
Queen Victoria’s snake ring
Engagement rings were rarely used when Queen Victoria decided to marry Prince Albert. Although protocol dictated that the monarch propose to her intended, the groom-to-be decided to mark the moment with a jewelled token of his affection. Albert chose a gold ring in the shape of a snake with an emerald on its head.
The snake was said by Albert to represent eternal love, while the emerald was the birthstone of May, when Victoria had made her debut. It became one of the most important pieces of jewellery ever owned by the Queen.
Queen Alexandra’s jewellery wordle
Alexandra of Denmark, who married Victoria and Albert’s eldest son, Albert Edward, in 1863, also had a special ring set with an emerald. When she became engaged, the Danish princess was given a ring with stones that spelled out ‘Bertie’, the name by which her intended was known to his family and friends.
The acrostic-style ring was gaining popularity at the time and the princess, already a fashion setter, helped to raise its profile. The gems used were a beryl, an emerald, a ruby, a topaz, a jacinth and a final emerald – the initials of each stone formed ‘Bertie.
Wallis’ giant emerald
Perhaps the most famous royal engagement ring to feature an emerald is the one given to Wallis Simpson by the man who gave up a throne to make her his wife.
By October 1936, the relationship between Edward VIII, King and Emperor, and the twice-married Mrs Simpson was controversial. Mrs Simpson’s previous marriages were seen as a major obstacle to her marrying the monarch, but as divorce proceedings against her second husband, Ernest Simpson, got under way, Edward became more determined than ever to marry Wallis.
On 27 October 1936, as a court began the process of ending their marriage, Wallis received an engagement ring from the King. It was a 19.77 carat emerald flanked by diamonds and set in platinum. Six weeks later, as opposition to their union grew, Edward abdicated to ‘marry the woman I love’.
Princess Martha Louise’s cluster ring
There’s a link to her mother in Princess Martha Louise’s engagement ring. Emeralds are one of Queen Sonja’s favourite stones, and Durek Verrett chose the green gem as the centrepiece to represent his fiancée’s mother. The ring also has three diamonds near the main emerald for Martha Louise’s three daughters from her first marriage.
Durek designed the ring with COMMUNION’s Joy Sangalang Smith and said he wanted it to “honour” the family’s “ancestral Viking roots” and reflect the close relationships in Martha Louise’s life.
Martha’s ring will be the latest chapter in a rare royal story – emeralds and engagements.
