Princess Kate just replaced her engagement ring with a rare piece
She's rarely seen wearing it
![Kate Middleton new ring](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/g7JKNGXrXJv5frJBADa9pW-415-80.jpg)
Princess Catherine and Prince William made a rare joint appearance this weekend to mark the end of the Olympics with a special video.
The video was posted on their official Instagram page during the 2024 Olympics closing ceremony, and the couple were congratulated the British athletes, alongside other celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and David Beckham.
"Well done Team GB, what an incredible journey!" the Prince and Princess of Wales captioned the video. "Every athlete showed immense dedication, heart and passion. You made us all so proud!
Naturally, given this was one of only a handful of recent appearances from the Princess of Wales amidst her health battle, Royal fans were quick to dissect her look, and unsurprisingly landed on her rings.
A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales (@princeandprincessofwales)
A photo posted by on
Specifically, they noticed that instead of her engagement ring - which belonged to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana - she wore a different band, which appeared to feature pearls or diamonds and red stones.
After a little bit of digging, it appears that this is one of her oldest rings, one she is rarely seen wearing.
In fact, it's said to be one of the first jewellery gifts from Prince William, towards the beginning of their relationship.
Long before they got engaged, when they were both dating as students at the University of St. Andrews, he is said to have given her a promise ring: a rose gold band featuring alternate pearl and garnets.
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It was not only a promise that they were in it for the long run, but the stones symbolised both of their birthdays (pearl for William's June birthday, and garnet for Kate's January birthday).
Since the couple recently celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary, the rings takes on a whole new meaning.
If you wanted to emulate the royal, here are some similar rings you can buy.
Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.
Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).
Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.
However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.
Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.