British Royal Jewels - Princess Eugenie’s Bridal Jewelry

Princess Eugenie announced her engagement to Jack Brooksbank earlier this year after dating for about seven years. According to People Magazine, they got engaged during a trip to Nicaragua in January 2018. The ring featured an oval padparadscha sapphire surrounded by diamonds. A Padparadscha sapphire is a special variety of corundum, which comes in a delicate color that is a mixture of pink and orange. To be precise, it is a color that is somewhere between a ruby and yellow sapphire. The Padparadscha sapphire is also called a Lotus Blossom because of the hue’s resemblance to a lotus flower. 

Princess Eugenie’s now husband Jack Brooksbank picked the engagement ring and waited before getting it until Eugenie signed off on it. The ring actually looks like her mother’s engagement ring, which was one beautiful Burmese ruby surrounded by diamonds. The ruby ring was made by Diana’s jeweller, Garrard, and designed by Prince Andrew himself. Being very traditional and unique, both designs make very royal-worthy rings.

Fast forwarding to the wedding, we all thought Princess Eugenie would take after her mother by using the York Diamond Tiara Sarah Ferguson wore to her wedding to Prince Andrew on July 23, 1986. In that case, the tiara was completely new, as it was purchased for Sarah by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip; also made by the House of Garrard. Surprisingly, Princess Eugenie wore the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara instead to her wedding to Jack Brooksbank, made by Boucheron in 1919 for Margaret Greville.

The Greville Tiara was bequeathed along a collection of jewels to the Queen in 1942, and continues to be in the Royal Family to this day. The tiara has a center emerald weighing 93.7 carats and features the Kokoshnik style, which is a popular one in the Russian Imperial Court. Moreover, it also has rose cut diamonds with an additional six emeralds on each side of the center one and it is set in platinum. Apart from this statement piece, she wore matching emerald and diamond earrings gifted to her by her now husband, and of course, her beautiful padparadscha and diamonds engagement ring.

Princess Eugenie’s bridal style was elegant and minimalistic, yet she proved a statement by being very specific on the gemstones and jewelry she chose. She surprised everyone by taking the jewelry out of the vault, and happily took our breath away with the lovely gesture of honoring her great grandmother.