Jewelry Expert Says Princess Diana's Pieces Passed Down to Meghan Markle Are Now Living Two "Distinct Lives"

Princess Diana never met her sons’ wives, but her legacy lives on in some of the extraordinary pieces of jewelry that were passed down to Princess Kate and Meghan Markle. While the Princess of Wales received the most iconic piece from Diana’s collection, her sapphire and diamond engagement ring, the Duchess of Sussex also was given a number of the late royal’s jewels.

One of the diamonds in her three-stone engagement ring comes from Diana’s collection, and Meghan also regularly wears the princess’s Cartier tank watch, but the Duchess of Sussex has worn several of her late mother-in-law’s other earrings, bracelets and rings. Now that Prince Harry and Meghan have moved back to the U.K., Princess Diana’s jewelry will once again return to Britain.

“The notion of seeing Meghan on U.K. soil wearing Diana’s jewelry again would be significant because these pieces are now living quite distinct lives,” jewelry expert and Abelini founder Nilesh Rakholia tells Marie Claire.

“We remember them on Diana, but Meghan has been wearing some of them for years too,” he adds. “They are no longer simply pieces associated with one woman.”

Asprey Cocktail Ring

The most memorable jewelry moment from Harry and Meghan’s wedding came when the couple left Windsor Castle to head to their reception, with Meghan wearing Princess Diana’s enormous aquamarine cocktail ring on her right hand.

“The aquamarine is probably the piece I’d be most excited to see back in Britain because it now belongs to two very recognizable jewelry moments,” Rakholia says.

“For Diana, it became associated with a period when she was stepping into a new chapter of her life and making choices on her own terms,” he shares of the Asprey ring. “Then, years later, Meghan wore it on her wedding evening with that very clean Stella McCartney dress.”

As the Duchess of Sussex starts her own new chapter in the U.K. after six years in California, the ring feels like a fitting piece to bring out once again.

Cartier Watch

When Meghan was starring in Suits, she treated herself to the special two-tone Cartier Tank Française watch she’d always wanted, but little did she know that she’d one day inherit the same timepiece owned by Princess Diana.

The former Suits star told Hello! in 2015 that she had her watch engraved “to M.M. from M.M.,” sharing that she planned to pass it down to her future daughter. “That's what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them,” Meghan said.

Fast-forward to 2020, and the Duchess of Sussex was pictured wearing Diana's all-gold version of the Cartier Tank Française for the first time, and she’s worn it almost constantly for the past six years.

“For me, this is one of the most fitting pieces Meghan could have inherited,” says Rakholia. “She already had a relationship with Cartier before she ever met Harry.”

He adds, “This is what makes Diana’s watch feel like a particularly natural heirloom for Meghan. She wasn’t introduced to the design through the Royal Family. She had already independently chosen the same watch for herself because it suited her own taste.”

Butterfly Earrings

Princess Diana owned a pair of diamond butterfly earrings featuring blue gemstones, famously wearing them during a 1986 tour of Canada. Decades later, the Duchess of Sussex debuted the sparkling studs during her first major royal tour with Prince Harry in October 2018.

She's gone on to wear the earrings on several other occasions over the years, and Rakholia notes that although the studs "feel distinctly of their period," the Duchess of Sussex "has worn them in a way that stops them feeling like costume jewelry from the 1980s.”

The timing of Meghan’s first public wear has since given the butterfly earrings another association. "Diana wore them as a young princess. Decades later, Meghan wore them at the beginning of a tour when the world had just learned she was expecting Diana’s grandson," Rakholia says. "That connection didn’t exist when Diana owned them; Meghan created it simply by wearing them."

"That is exactly how heirloom jewelry accumulates meaning," he adds. "The physical object hasn’t changed, but the stories attached to it have."