The Deeper Meaning Behind All Of Kate Middleton's Flashy Rings

When it comes to jewelry, Catherine, Princess of Wales, has access to some incredibly rare and historic pieces. How many commoners get access to practically priceless tiaras the way that Kate does? Perhaps most famously, Kate wears Princess Diana's sapphire and diamond engagement ring. In their engagement interview with ITV News, William, Prince of Wales, talked about the meaning behind giving Kate that treasured ring and how it let his mother, Princess Diana, share in their married lives, even if only symbolically. William said the ring "is my way of keeping [my mother] sort of close to it all," via ITV News. But it's just one of Kate's particularly sentimental pieces of jewelry. Kate has been seen wearing up to five rings at a time on her ring finger, including her famous engagement ring, and each has its own special meaning.

While it seems impossible to deny that Kate's engagement ring is now iconic, it wasn't always considered that impressive. When Princess Diana's engagement ring was first revealed to the world back in 1981, some people looked down upon it because it wasn't a custom design. The ring was one of a selection that then Prince Charles had offered for Diana to choose from, and Charles chose the now famous, non-bespoke ring as one of the options because it looked like Queen Victoria's wedding brooch. That brooch had been a particular favorite of Queen Elizabeth II. So in a way, Kate's ring honors not just William's mother, but his grandmother and his ancestor, Queen Victoria.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, has what seems like at first to be a relatively simple gold band as a wedding ring, but behind the simplicity is a lot of significance. To start, Kate and William, Prince of Wales, worked together with a jeweler to design her ring. But perhaps more notably, It is made from remarkably rare and expensive Welsh gold, specifically from the Clogau mine, and the gold was a gift from Queen Elizabeth.

It's been a decades-long tradition to use Welsh gold for wedding rings, with the first one worn by Queen Elizabeth's mother when she married Albert, Duke of York in 1923. All the major royal family members used Welsh gold in their wedding bands after that, and it's something that Kate has in common with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. There's no more gold mining in Wales, so the gold that has been unearthed is very precious.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, doesn't always wear her famous engagement ring; in 2024, she was seen without it, but she appeared to have replaced it with a simpler, but still beautiful, eternity band. You can see the ring on her hand in Kate's September 2024 announcement that she'd finished her chemotherapy treatment. While we don't know for sure, people have guessed that it was a gift from William, Prince of Wales, in celebration of the end of her treatment. It makes a fitting replacement for easier day-to-day wear for her larger engagement ring since it seems to feature alternating sapphires and diamonds. While she sometimes wears it instead of her engagement ring, she has worn them both (and more) for special occasions, like the funeral for Katharine, Duchess of Kent, in September 2025.

Kate has another eternity ring, reportedly gifted to her by William. That one appeared on her ring finger after the birth of Prince George, the oldest of Kate and William's three kids. The ring was made by Annoushka, a jeweler in London, and it's white gold with delicate diamonds all the way around. The Annoushka website still sells the Eclipse Diamond Eternity Ring, and the description on their website refers to it as a "royal favorite." We're guessing that means Kate.

Kate's also got another eternity band with smaller diamonds that she adds to the stack on occasion. It's another one where we don't know for sure about the exact story, but our guess is that it's a gift from William for a special occasion. If she keeps collecting rings at this rate, she's going to run out of room on her ring finger, but we can't wait to see what ring she gets next.