The Duchess of Sussex was glittering in jewels worth over £300,000 as she stepped out in New York today with Prince Harry.
Meghan Markle, 40, who is currently living in her $14 million mansion in California having stepped back from royal duty last year, joined the Duke to visit One World Trade Center this morning.
And while the royal kept her outfit understated, she wore a staggering amount of jewellery, including her £271,000 engagement ring and Princess Diana‘s Cartier £17,800 tank watch.
The Duchess, who is known for her love of symbolic jewellery, also showed off her new mysterious pinky ring, which is believed to have been made with ‘gifted diamonds from the Middle East’.
The Duchess of Sussex, 40, was glittering in jewels worth over £300,000 as she stepped out in New York today with Prince Harry, 37
And while the royal kept her outfit understated, she wore a staggering amount of jewellery, including her £12,000 Cartier wedding earrings
A CUSTOM PIECE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST? PINKY RING ‘DESIGNED BY LORRAINE SCHWARTZ’
Interest in the Meghan’s pinky ring continues to overshadow the Duchess of Sussex’s appearance on the cover of Time magazine earlier this week.
Unique: On her right hand, Meghan wore what is believed to be a custom-made pinky ring that was reportedly designed by jeweler Lorraine Schwartz, according to Page Six
Many were intrigued by a growing mystery surrounding the ring on her right pinky finger.
Initially, Harry and Meghan denied claims that the ring, made by celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz and reportedly worth an estimated £45,000 ($62,000), was fashioned with diamonds gifted to the couple by a mystery donor in the Middle East.
They said the ring was sourced by a stylist on the shoot directly from the designer and that there was no link to a mystery donor in the Middle East.
But in a spectacular U-turn, they later rolled back the denial, and clarified that they were referring only to a ring on Meghan’s left hand – a £380 ($525) pinky ring from Shiffon, which is meant to represent women’s empowerment.
There was no further mention made of the Lorraine Schwartz ring in question on her right hand, begging the question of whether Meghan has something to hide about the provenance of the diamond, which was first seen on her finger in October 2020.
Now it has been claimed Schwartz used the same set of diamonds to create earrings, which the Duchess wore at Trooping the Colour in 2019, and then again at a premiere of the Lion King a month later, according to Page Six.
If the diamonds did indeed come from the Middle East, it’s not clear if Meghan received the gift while she was still a working royal, or after she performed her final official duties in early March 2021.
She did not visit the region officially, but there’s always the possibility she made a private trip.
Buckingham Palace only publishes a list of gifts received by royals while on duty in the UK or overseas, and there is no public record of Meghan being given any diamonds.
Gifts sent to the royals outside of official engagements are recorded but not made public.
The palace have previously directed inquiries about the diamonds back to the Sussexes’ representatives in the US, who have also been approached for comment.
£3,300 DIAMOND RING FROM HER FIRST ENGAGEMENT WITH PRINCE HARRY AS HIS FIANCE
During the outing in New York today, eagle-eyed viewers spotted a third, previously unseen, ring on Meghan’s ring finger
For one of her first outings as Harry’s fiancée, in Edinburgh she wore a Birks Diamond Snowflake Ring, worth £3,300.
She has since worn pieces from the jewellery brand worth tens of thousands, including Diamond Swirl earrings and countless gold rings.
Birks has also worked with Meghan’s close friend, the well-connected stylist Jessica Mulroney, who helped curate her an outfit for her engagement photo call – Birks earrings included – and will almost certainly have brought the jeweller to her friend’s attention.
The jewellers were approached by Meghan’s ‘entourage’ to dress her mother Doria Ragland for the royal wedding, according to the article.
Meghan has worn pieces by Birks on at least ten occasions since stepping onto the royal stage, with her jewellery bill running into the tens of thousands.
But it seems she has not been afraid to splash out on her nearest and dearest either, with Maclean’s revealing she approached public relations firm NKPR in 2018 while on the hunt for a bracelet to give Harry for Christmas.
THE £12,000 CARTIER EARRINGS SHE WORE FOR HER WEDDING AND ARCHIE’S CHRISTENING
For the occasion, Meghan recycled the same pair of £12,000 Cartier earrings previously worn as she married Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018
For the occasion, Meghan recycled the same pair of £12,000 Cartier earrings previously worn as she married Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018, when she walked down the aisle in a stunning custom-made £200,000 Givenchy gown.
The Duchess wore the same set of jewels for her son Archie’s secret christening in 2019.
Speaking to Femail at the time, stylist Rochelle White highlighted the similarities between Meghan’s christening and wedding look, revealing how the looks ‘linked the two meaningful events together’.
She explained: ‘Meghan played homage to her wedding day with her earrings.’
THE £271,000 ENGAGEMENT RING MEGHAN RE-DESIGNED AFTER HER PROPOSAL FROM PRINCE HARRY
Prince Harry proposed to Meghan in November 2017 with a glittering ring comprising of a solid yellow gold band set with three diamonds, pictured
Next to her pinky rings, Meghan sported her £271,000 engagement ring, which was originally designed by Prince Harry and court jewelers Cleave and Company using one stone from Botswana and two smaller stones from Diana’s collection.
Harry proposed to Meghan in November 2017 with the glittering ring comprising of a solid yellow gold band – however in 2019, images revealed that the design had been changed in order to incorporate a thinner band that was set with several pave diamonds all around it.
Shortly after their engagement, Prince Harry spoke out about the design process behind the ring, explaining that he had chosen each element in order to ensure that it fit his future bride’s tastes perfectly.
‘The ring is obviously yellow gold because that’s [Meghan’s] favorite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother’s jewelry collection, to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together,’ he said.
Meghan called it ‘incredible’, explaining: ‘Everything about Harry’s thoughtfulness and the inclusion of [Princess Diana’s stones] and obviously not being able to meet his mum, it’s so important to me to know that she’s a part of this with us.’
‘It’s incredibly special to be able to have this [ring], which sort of links where you come form and Botswana, which is important to us. It’s perfect.’
PRINCESS DIANA’S GOLD £17,800 CARTIER TANK FRANCAISE WATCH
Meghan’s elegant timepiece was originally owned by Diana, who is seen wearing it on her left write at an engagement at the British Lung Foundation in 1997
She also wore a Cartier Tank Française watch, as pictured, gifted by Harry that once belonged to Princess Diana. The watch was worth $23,000 (£17,800) but this once has a special history
The watch, thought to be a present from Harry, was worth £17,800 at the time but is now likely worth a lot more given its history.
The elegant timepiece was worn by Diana at a number of occasions, including a 1997 visit to London’s Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple and an engagement at the British Lung Foundation that same year.
Meghan is known to be a fan of the Tank watch and splurged on her own two-tone version back in 2015 when ‘Suits’ was picked up for a third season.
At the time, she told Hello Magazine, ‘I’ve always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season—which, at the time, felt like such a milestone—I totally splurged and bought the two-tone version
‘I had it engraved on the back, ‘To M.M. From M.M.’ and I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That’s what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them.’
Meghan has been gifted several items from Diana’s collection. They include Diana’s butterfly earrings and gold bracelet which she wore on their Australian tour in 2018.
Yet the watch is a favorite and she has been spotted wearing it often.
The watch had been gifted to Diana by her father on her 21st birthday.