The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

The Sunday Ring: Queen Margrethe’s Engagement Ring

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Queen Margrethe’s engagement ring (Photo: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Time for a brand-new weekend feature, magpies! Every Sunday, we’ll be feasting our eyes on rings owned by royals from around the world. To kick things off, we’re starting with one of the most unique royal diamond rings around: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s engagement ring.

Margrethe wears the ring in France in the summer of 2005 (Photo: GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1966, Margrethe accepted a proposal from Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, the French diplomat with whom she had fallen in love while he was working at the French embassy in London and she was studying at the London School of Economics. Henri presented her with an unusual engagement ring: a pair of twinned square-cut diamonds, possibly measuring as much as six carats each, mounted on the diagonal on a yellow gold band.

Margrethe wears the ring in Athens in 2006 (Photo: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The ring was made by Van Cleef and Arpels. The style of ring is sometimes called a toi et moi ring — which translates to “you and me” in English. Toi et moi rings feature a pair of stones, and when they’re given for an engagement, one stone represents the bride, while the other represents the groom.

Margrethe wears the ring in Berlin in 2014 (Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

The toi et moi style was more popular during the nineteenth century; the trend is supposed to have been inspired by the diamond and sapphire engagement ring that Napoleon Bonaparte gave to Josephine de Beauharnais. (Which, of course, makes the style extremely appropriate for Margrethe, who is a direct descendant of Josephine.)

Margrethe wears the ring in London in 2012 (Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Margrethe began wearing the ring in public in October 1966, when the engagement was officially announced. And fifty years later, she’s still wearing it. Even though the ring is large and must be cumbersome to wear at times, it’s almost always situated with her wedding ring on her left hand. No wonder — was there ever a more harmonious match between an innovative engagement ring and a creative wearer?

Princess Charlene’s Ocean Tiara on Display

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Photo used with the kind permission of reader Suzanne.

If you are in Singapore or will be visiting over the next few months, here’s a heads up: Princess Charlene’s Ocean Tiara is on display! Lovely reader Suzanne e-mailed me with details about the exhibition, “Van Cleef and Arpels: The Art and Science of Gems,” where the tiara is being displayed. Here’s a link to the official website of the exhibition for more; it runs until August 14.

Photo used with the kind permission of reader Suzanne.

I’ll let Suzanne’s comments about the exhibition speak for themselves: “I was in Singapore for a few days last week and knew of the Van Cleef and Arpels exhibition at the Art and Science Museum; so naturally I would go and see that, but many of the major pieces on display were not in publicity blurbs. So, surprise and delight to see [the Ocean Tiara] (in the last room) along with Princess Grace’s tiara and other jewellery of hers … The modern cut of the diamonds in the Ocean
Tiara make it very very bright by comparison to the softer older cuts, and it looks a little more delicate than I would have thought.”

Suzanne adds: “There is also some jewellery belonging to Elizabeth Taylor and former Egyptian royalty. 450 pieces of jewellery on display … such a pity I could not take one home.”

Thank you so much, Suzanne, for letting me share your experience! Both of the photographs in this post, including that incredible close-up of the tiara, were taken by Suzanne, and I’m incredibly grateful that she also let me share them here with all of you.