Queen Letizia’s Unique Engagement Ring Is Worth a Staggering £25,000—Here’s Why She Never Wears It

Queen Letizia of Spain has impeccable taste and style, and, in that vein, her “expensive engagement ring is unlike the typical style of other royal engagement rings and has a distinctive design,” The Daily Express reports.

Letizia and her husband, King Felipe, just marked their milestone 20th wedding anniversary this month—on May 22, to be exact—but, as the outlet reports, Letizia “is rarely spotted wearing her beautiful £25K engagement ring in public.” Why? Well, there’s a reason, according to The Daily Express. 

Letizia hasn’t worn her engagement ring in 12 years, since 2012; instead, she regularly prefers to wear a Karen Hallam gold-plated ring. “The Queen of Spain has rarely been spotted wearing her engagement ring in public and, while there’s been a lot of speculation as to why, there’s a simple reasoning behind it,” said diamond expert Maxwell Stone of Steven Stone. “She once asserted that, as she has to meet a lot of dignitaries every day, the ring hurts her hand due to the endless handshaking.”

Describing Letizia’s ring, Stone said “Queen Letizia’s engagement ring is very unique in comparison to other royal rings, which mostly feature a large center stone and perhaps smaller stones [on] either side,” he said. “Instead, her sophisticated band features 16 vertically set baguette-cut diamonds in either a platinum or white-gold setting.” 

The ring—thought to be valued at around £25,000—was crafted by Suárez, a Spanish brand established in 1943. The Spanish Royal Court revealed the news of Felipe and Letizia’s engagement on November 1, 2003, and the couple married six months later on May 22, 2004 at Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral. If we thought £25,000 was an ample amount to spend, consider Letizia’s reported £6 million wedding gown, “one of the most expensive royal dresses of all time,” The Daily Express reports. 

The 2004 royal wedding was “said to be one of the most remembered weddings of all time,” not the least of which for Letizia’s gown, made by Spanish designer Manuel Pertegaz and featuring “a high-standing collar, long sleeves, a V-neck, and over four meters of circular train and gold embroidery,” according to The Daily Express. “She accessorized her wedding look with a diamond tiara, gifted to her by her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia.”

That particular tiara, known as the Prussian Tiara, was also worn by Sofia at her own wedding to King Juan Carlos back in 1962; that piece of jewelry is estimated to be worth £750,000.