or, How I Had the Same Idea as Kate (and May Have Beaten Her To The Punch)
August 31 was the 15th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and so I have decided to mark the occasion with a special RepliKate.
Famously, Kate was given her late mother-in-law’s sapphire ring when William proposed to her. In the engagement interview, William said that his mother was special to him, and Kate was special to him, so it was only right that Kate have the ring.
Of course, copies of the ring began to appear everywhere, and I snapped up mine at Sears just before Christmas 2010. They’re becoming more scarce now, but if you look hard enough, you should be able to find one.
Kate Middleton and Prince William announce their engagement. Photo by UK_repsome (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by me.
My ring, of course, does not feature a giant sapphire, but rather “Swarovski elements,” meaning it’s much cheaper than even full-on Swarovski jewelry.
William inherited more than just Diana’s engagement ring when she died, however – he inherited many pieces of his mother’s jewelry that ostensibly are available for Kate to use. One such piece is a pair of sapphire earrings that match the sapphire ring. You can see Diana wearing the set in this picture featuring a baby William. They are part of a parure, or set, that was given to her by the then-Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. (The sapphires are about a quarter of the way down the page.) At a church service to mark Prince Philip’s 90th birthday in June 2011, Kate appeared in a pair of diamond and sapphire earrings, and it was speculated that Kate had reworked some of Diana’s stud earrings into a pair of drops. She also wore them on her tour of Canada and Los Angeles; you can see a great closeup here.
On my many trips to Sears (I live in a really boring town and often walk the mall just to get out of the house), I came across a pair of stud earrings that matched my Wales ring and eventually bought them. However, I didn’t like how they looked on me and eventually converted them into a pair of drops.
Photo by me.
So what’s this “beat Kate to the punch” thing? That’s right: I wore my earrings to a theatre performance in March 2011, three months before Kate debuted her earrings. Of course, there’s no way to know when she got these earrings and/or had the idea to convert Diana’s old pair, and I didn’t get a picture to prove it, but the possibility is there. 😀