Ritani

Courtesy of the Associated Press

After months of bets being made and much speculation, Prince William and Kate Middleton have announced their engagement.  It’s pretty impressive that they were able to keep it a secret for as long as they did.  All eyes have been on the couple and the Royal Family trying to find any hints of an engagement, and today the couple announced that they have been engaged since October.   Ever true to their quest for privacy, Prince William popped the question while the couple was enjoying a secluded safari trip in Kenya last month.  Infusing much sentimentality to the occasion, William offered Kate his late mother’s engagement ring, which is a stunning oval sapphire ring surrounded by a glistening cluster of fourteen round-cut diamonds.   The Prince was quoted as saying that giving his future wife something that once belonged to his mother, the late Princess Diana, was very important to him as it ensured that she was sharing in all of the excitement that they were experiencing and would continue to experience in their new life together.  At the time of her engagement to Prince Charles in 1981, Diana chose the 18 carat sapphire and diamond ring from the catalogue of famed London Jewelers, Garrard Jewellers.  At the time it seemed very controversial that the soon to be princess chose a ring that could be bought by the public, but it soon turned into “the” symbol of the engaged couple.  With many commenting on whether the Prince was wrong to give his fiancée a second hand ring from a broken marriage, I have to comment on the opposite.  I think Prince William using his mother’s ring enriches the occasion with a level of sentimentality and tradition.  Kate Middleton seems to share many of the qualities once expressed by Princess Diana and what a fitting tribute than to be continually reminded of such a profound figure in her soon to be husband’s life than to wear her engagement ring?  Now Kate will be walking down the aisle with something borrowed AND something blue.