- #1 Historical: The Princess of Wales has the most iconic engagement ring of all time and the one garnering the most historical interest at home.
- #1 Newsworthy: Meghan Markle owns the UK’s second most coveted engagement ring and the most talked-about worldwide.
- #1 Trending: Molly-Mae Hague wears Brits’ third favourite ring to propose with and UK’s top trending today.
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has the most iconic engagement ring of all time. A study from a leading UK jeweller has found that the 12-carat oval sapphire ring, which previously belonged to Princess Diana, is Brits’ absolute favourite engagement ring. Meghan Markle’s ring from Prince Harry follows closely behind, scoring 8.5 out of 10. Meanwhile bride-to-be Molly-Mae Hague surprises by swiftly entering the top three most iconic engagement rings of all time.
This is according to the research conducted by British luxury jewellery retailer Chisholm Hunter, which examined 28 of the most famous celebrity engagement rings against three factors: historical interest, current relevance and global newsworthiness. The first pillar establishes the UK’s most popular rings of all time based on historical Google search volumes dating from 2004 among UK internet users. The second indicator measures current relevance using the past year’s average monthly online searches for each ring in the UK. Lastly, the third factor establishes which rings are most talked about in the news around the world.
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has the most iconic engagement ring of all time, the study has found. The exquisite diamond-haloed royal blue sapphire ring once famously belonged to her mother-in-law, Princess Diana. Although family heirloom engagement rings are not unheard of in the UK, the ring’s origins are anything but ordinary. Unlike the current tradition for proposing partners to choose their future bride’s engagement ring, Princess Diana chose it herself from the royal jeweller Garrard. She skipped another royal tradition by not having it custom-made.
The buzz around it has toned down in the past year, with around 1,500 Google searches per month in the UK. However, historically, the British public has expressed the highest interest in the Princess of Wales’ engagement ring, even before Prince William proposed. UK online searches for it over the past two decades are about 50% higher than the next most Googled engagement rings: one bought by Dodi Fayed presumably for Princess Diana; and another belonging to British influencer Molly-Mae.
A total of 32,834 online articles worldwide mention Princess Diana’s and the Princess of Wales’ engagement ring, which is, surprisingly, not the highest global tally. Meghan Markle made more headlines with the ring Prince Harry proposed with, counting 40,081 online articles until April 17th, 2024.
In the overall ranking, Meghan Markle wears the second most iconic engagement ring in the world. It is the most talked-about engagement ring in online media around the world. Historically less searched in the UK, Meghan Markle’s ring stays relevant today with around 1,600 proactive Google searches per month over the past year. Prince Harry designed it himself, incorporating two diamonds that belonged to his mother, Princess Diana, on either side of a three-carat cushion-cut Botswana diamond.
British influencer and TV personality Molly-Mae Hague is the owner of Britain’s third favourite engagement ring. It appears to be a solitaire elongated oval diamond ring worth five carats. Although only 260 online articles mention it worldwide, it scored top marks for current relevance at home. People across the UK Google Molly-Mae’s ring around 3,200 times every month. The discrepancy between limited news coverage yet highest monthly online searches is indicative of a very loyal fanbase that even drove historical search statistics up long before her partner had a chance to propose.
Other engagement rings ranked in the study’s top ten most iconic of all time belong to Ariana Grande, from Dalton Gomez; Dodi Fayed, presumably for Princess Diana; Vick Hope; Hailey Bieber; Megan Fox, from Colson Baker aka Machine Gun Kelly; Blake Lively; and Victoria Beckham.
Max Brown, Retail Director at Chisholm Hunter, comments: “Time and time again, we come to the conclusion that jewellery is, first and foremost, only as precious as the story behind it. Engagements are absolutely not about the ring – the ring is but an enduring keepsake to remind us over time of the moment two people in love decide to become partners for life. The world’s greatest diamond is worthless without the overwhelming feeling of ease in your heart that someone chooses to share their entire future together with just you by their side.”
| # | Engagement ring | Historical interest (UK):search volume(0-10 scale) | Current relevance (UK): monthly search volume over the past 12 months | Global newsworthiness: online articles | Final score: 0-10 scale |
| 1 | Catherine, Princess of Wales | 10.0 | 1,500 | 32,834 | 10.0 |
| 2 | Meghan Markle | 4.4 | 1,600 | 40,081 | 8.5 |
| 3 | Molly-Mae Hague | 6.7 | 3,200 | 230 | 7.3 |
| 4 | Ariana Grande (from Dalton Gomez) | 1.7 | 1,900 | 6,389 | 4.0 |
| 5 | Dodi Fayed* | 6.7 | 500 | 1,369 | 3.7 |
| 6 | Vick Hope | 2.5 | 1,900 | 297 | 3.7 |
| 7 | Hailey Bieber | 2.5 | 900 | 6,370 | 3.0 |
| 8 | Megan Fox (from Machine Gun Kelly) | 1.9 | 800 | 7,038 | 2.7 |
| 9 | Blake Lively | 1.7 | 700 | 7,197 | 2.5 |
| 10 | Victoria Beckham | 1.9 | 600 | 5,867 | 2.3 |
*Google searches for “engagement ring Dodi Fayed” ranked among UK’s top three over the past two decades. These most likely refer to the ring found at the scene of the accident in which Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed lost their lives. Although widely reported to be an engagement ring, this has never been confirmed.
The study was conducted by Chisholm Hunter, a leading UK luxury jewellery retail
credit Chisholm Hunter with a linked mention towards www.chisholmhunter.co.uk
Methodology:
1. Based on all-time UK searches for “engagement ring” since 2004 until April 17, 2024, found through Google Trends’ ‘People Also Search’ indicator, the researchers select the keywords associated with celebrities. Only those with a normalised search volume of at least 2 out of 100, relative to broader searches such as “engagement ring UK”, are shortlisted to create a seed list of 28 engagement rings.
2. The study ranks rings, not their ownership, hence why the all-time search volumes for “Kate Middleton” and “Princess Diana” are combined, considering these refer to the same ring.
3. Every keyword is run through Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer to estimate UK monthly search volumes for each, based on the previous 12-month period, measured as at April 17, 2024.
4. To determine a ring’s global newsworthiness, the third factor taken into account is the number of online articles worldwide mentioning each celebrity’s engagement ring. This was established using Ahrefs’ Content Explorer.
5. Where some celebrities are publicly known to have been engaged more than once, the results are divided to correspond with the maximum time periods between when the engagement reports were first confirmed and the following engagement news breakout.
6. Each of the three factors are weighed against a 0 to 10 scale. The total score from the three factors is again weighed against a 0 to 10 scale to determine which engagement rings are most iconic of all time.
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