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Cost and Design of Meghan Markle’s engagement ring

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Updated on July 7, 2021

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According to the couple’s official engagement interview, Harry had the ring custom-made by Cleave and Company, the Queen’s favorite jeweler, with an ethically sourced center stone from Botswana, where he and Meghan began a relationship. Two round diamonds from a brooch that belonged to Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, flanked the center stone. In discussing the ring’s design, Harry compared his decision to include his mother’s stones to William’s decision to give Catherine a ring of his mother’s, as both wanted to have her with them in spirit for the next chapter of their lives. “The little diamonds on either side are from my mother’s jewelry collection to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together,” Harry said.

According to TIME, although many people think this ring is “priceless” since it incorporates Diana’s stones, a three-carat diamond like Meghan’s could cost up to $200,000. A three-carat diamond of inferior color and clarity (but the same cushion cut) might sell for as little as $80,000 if size was the most important factor. While clarity, color, carat weight, and cut are all important variables in deciding a stone’s price, it’s likely that Harry selected a perfect stone for his future wife, regardless of cost.

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TIME spoke with Kathryn Money, VP of marketing and merchandising at Brilliant Earth, who estimated the total carat weight of the ring to be about 6.5 carats, with the center stone alone being roughly 5 carats. And, according to Blue Nile’s Amanda Winters, this ring was likely priced between $300,000 and $350,000, although a similar design could be obtained for less than $50,000 with lower-quality stones.

Archbishop of Canterbury refutes Harry and Meghan’s secret wedding

Meghan Markle’s allegation that she wedded Britain’s Prince Harry many days before the official extravagant wedding at Windsor Castle in 2018 was refuted by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

Meghan claimed the couple held their secret wedding ceremony in their “backyard” with archbishop Justin Welby, during her candid interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired in March.

Meghan said that nobody knew the pair exchanged intimate vows for “just the two of us” ahead of their formal wedding day in Windsor on May 19, 2018.

The man who married them addressed the matter publicly, claiming that this was not the case and that the huge royal wedding on May 19, 2018, was the genuine one.

Welby was questioned about what occurred in an interview with the Italian daily la Repubblica. He said the legal wedding happened in public, “But I won’t say what happened at any other meetings.”

The archbishop told the newspaper: “If any of you ever talk to a priest, you expect them to keep that talk confidential. It doesn’t matter who I’m talking to. I had a number of private and pastoral meetings with the duke and duchess before the wedding.

“The legal wedding was on the Saturday. I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a serious criminal offence if I signed it knowing it was false.”

The official who wrote out the certificate said Meghan was likely confused or misled, and the pair had possibly made some basic vows before the Archbishop.

Meghan “is obviously confused and clearly misinformed,” said Stephen Borton, the former head clerk at the Faculty Office.

“They did not marry three days earlier in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury,” he said.

“The Special Licence I helped draw up enabled them to marry at St George’s Chapel in Windsor and what happened there on 19 May 2018 and was seen by millions around the world was the official wedding as recognised by the Church of England and the law.

“What I suspect they did was exchange some simple vows they had perhaps written themselves, and which is fashionable, and said that in front of the archbishop or, and more likely, it was a simple rehearsal.”

Meghan told Oprah Winfrey during the interview: “You know, three days before our wedding we got married.

“No-one knows that, but we called the Archbishop and we just said, ‘look, this thing, this spectacle, is for the world, but we want our union between us’.”

“So the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Commentators questioned whether such a ceremony would have been legal, considering that it would have required witnesses and to take place in a registered location under English law.

After a miscarriage last year, the Sussexes began a new life in Santa Barbara, California, away from the royal family’s activities. They had their second child, a girl, on June 4.