Current Worth, Where They Are, and Pieces She Designed

Princess Diana was known as a fashion icon, so it’s no surprise that her jewelry collection is now worth millions after her death on Aug. 31, 1997. From her sapphire engagement ring to her gold Cartier Tank watch, many of Diana’s most recognizable pieces have been passed down to her daughters-in-law, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle who are now style superstars in their own right.

Ahead, take a closer look at some of the late royal’s precious jewels, including amethysts, diamonds, and emeralds that date back to the early 1900s.

Prince Charles proposed to Princess Diana with a Ceylon sapphire engagement ring in 1981. Today, it’s arguably her most iconic piece of jewelry. Selected from Garrard’s catalog, the 12-carat oval-cut center stone is encircled by 14 diamonds. Featuring an 18-karat white gold setting, the ring’s original price was $60,000, though its value has since skyrocketed and is now worth an estimated $400,000. Notably, Diana’s engagement ring was passed down to her daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton.

Leave it to Princess Diana to make a wardrobe malfunction fashionable. While visiting Melbourne, Australia in 1985, she intended to wear one of Queen Mary’s chokers around her neck — when it instead became stuck on her head, she kept it that way, according to royal biographer Kitty Kelley. Diana’s hairstylist, Richard Dalton, famously used knicker elastic to secure the jeweled wreath.

The Art Deco collar, adorned with diamonds and cabochon emeralds, was gifted to Queen Mary in 1911 in honor of the Delhi Durbar, a ceremony that coronated the King and Queen of England as Emperor and Empress of India. Mary repurposed the original necklace into a choker, leaving it to Queen Elizabeth II when she passed away in 1953. Elizabeth gifted it to Diana in celebration of her marriage to Prince Charles. The Delhi Durbar choker has also been worn by Kate Middleton.

One of Diana’s iconic pieces of jewelry now belongs to Kim Kardashian. The reality star and entrepreneur purchased the Attallah Cross at a Sotheby’s auction in 2023. Named for its previous owner, Naim Attallah, former group chief executive of Asprey & Garrard, the Palestinian-British businessman lent the amethyst and diamond piece to Diana throughout the 1980s. She notably wore it on a string of pearls at a 1987 charity gala, where she paired the pendant with a purple velvet Catherine Walker gown.

Originally made by Garrard in the 1920s, the Attallah Cross features square-cut amethysts surrounded by 5.25 carats of circular-cut diamonds. Kardashian purchased it for $197,453, double its pre-auction estimate.

Upon her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981, Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia gave Princess Diana a set of sapphire and diamond jewelry as a wedding gift to match her engagement ring. The Asprey suite comprises a watch, bracelet, necklace, ring and earrings. Diana eventually repurposed some of the stones, using them to create a jeweled velvet choker that she also wore as a headband. In total, the collection is worth approximately $20 million today.

The Princess of Wales designed her own set of jewelry in collaboration with Garrard just before her death. Known as the Swan Lake Suite, it consists of a necklace and earrings made from diamonds and South Sea Pearls — one of Diana’s favorite jewels. She only wore the stunning collar at a performance of “Swan Lake” at Royal Albert Hall in June 1997. The matching earrings weren’t completed until after she passed away.

The suite features seven identical 12mm South Sea pearls, while the necklace alone includes 178 marquise- and round-cut diamonds totaling 51 carats. It is believed that the set was intended as a gift to Diana from her then-boyfriend, Harrods heir Dodi Fayed.

“Diana was a girl when she was a princess,” Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s auction house, told WWD last year. “She was wearing borrowed material, then she blossomed into a tower of strength and became very much her own, so designing a necklace was a statement for her.”

Diana designed the set in collaboration with David Thomas. The former president of Garrard oversaw the British Crown Jewels until his retirement in 2007.

The Swan Lake Suite was intended to be put up for auction in 2023, though it was instead sold privately to a “prominent museum” that currently remains unnamed. At the time, Ettinger estimated the value of the set at $3 million to $5 million.

After its initial release in 1996, the late Princess of Wales helped popularize Cartier’s Tank Française model. The yellow gold variation currently retails for upward of $22,000, though given its historical value, Diana’s watch is likely worth much more. Prince Harry gifted the gold timepiece to his wife, Meghan Markle, who was first seen wearing it publicly in 2020.

In her final years of life, Princess Diana frequently sported a diamond tennis bracelet. Adorned with approximately 20 carats of stones, Prince Harry reportedly had two removed to create Markle’s engagement ring. The Duchess of Sussex also received the bracelet itself, which is now worth around $150,000.

Diana was gifted an aquamarine stone by her friend Lucia Flecha de Lima before it was mounted onto a ring by Asprey in 1996. Set in gold, the large emerald-cut jewel (which is estimated to weigh anywhere from 13 to 30 carats) was placed between three symmetrical rows of small solitaire diamonds.

Referred to as Diana’s “replacement” engagement ring, the late royal wore it on her left ring finger following her divorce from Prince Charles. Diana was photographed wearing the aquamarine just twice before her death, and it also came in a set that included a five-strand pearl bracelet. Today, the ring, which was also passed down to Markle, is valued at approximately $90,000.

Source: Particle News