Daily Times

A study from a leading UK jeweller has found that over 40,000 news items worldwide make a reference to her ring from Prince Harry. This is 22 percent more than the future Queen of the United Kingdom, Kate Middleton.

This is according to the research conducted by British luxury jewellery retailer Chisholm Hunter, which examined 28 of the most famous celebrity engagement rings against three factors: historical interest, current relevance and global newsworthiness. The first pillar establishes the UK’s most popular rings of all time based on historical Google search volumes dating from 2004 among UK internet users. The second indicator measures current relevance using the past year’s average monthly online searches for each ring in the UK. Lastly, the third factor establishes which rings are most talked about in the news around the world.

Meghan Markle takes the crown for the most talked-about engagement ring in online media around the world. She made more headlines with the ring Prince Harry proposed with, counting 40,081 online articles until April 17, 2024. This is the highest global tally, ahead of any British royal family member or Hollywood celebrity.

Although historically less searched in the UK, Meghan Markle’s ring stays relevant today with around 1,600 proactive Google searches per month over the past year in her husband’s home country. Prince Harry designed it himself, incorporating two diamonds that belonged to his mother, Princess Diana, on either side of a three-carat cushion-cut Botswana diamond. In the overall ranking, Meghan Markle wears the second most iconic engagement ring in the world.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has the second most newsworthy engagement ring on the planet. A total of 32,834 online articles worldwide mention it. The ring scored better for other evaluated factors, which means that, overall, it is actually the most iconic engagement ring of all time. The exquisite diamond-haloed royal blue sapphire ring once famously belonged to her mother-in-law, Princess Diana. Although family heirloom engagement rings are not unheard of in the UK, the ring’s origins are anything but ordinary. Unlike the current tradition for proposing partners to choose their future bride’s engagement ring, Princess Diana chose it herself from the royal jeweller Garrard. She skipped another royal tradition by not having it custom-made.

The buzz around it has toned down in the past year, with around 1,500 Google searches per month in Kate Middleton’a home country. However, historically, the British public has expressed the highest interest in the Princess of Wales’ engagement ring, even before Prince William proposed. UK online searches for it over the past two decades are about 50 percent higher than the next most Googled engagement rings: one bought by Dodi Fayed presumably for Princess Diana and another belonging to British influencer Molly-Mae.

Other engagement rings ranked in the study’s top ten most iconic of all time belong to Molly-Mae Hague; Ariana Grande, from Dalton Gomez; Dodi Fayed, presumably for Princess Diana; Vick Hope; Hailey Bieber; Megan Fox, from Colson Baker aka Machine Gun Kelly; Blake Lively and Victoria Beckham.

Max Brown, Retail Director at Chisholm Hunter, comments: “Time and time again, we come to the conclusion that jewellery is, first and foremost, only as precious as the story behind it. Engagements are absolutely not about the ring – the ring is but an enduring keepsake to remind us over time of the moment two people in love decide to become partners for life. The world’s greatest diamond is worthless without the overwhelming feeling of ease in your heart that someone chooses to share their entire future together with just you by their side.”