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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Zoe Forsey

Princess Beatrice shows off huge diamond engagement ring designed by fiancé

Princess Beatrice's new fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is a millionaire property developer and an old friend of the Royal Family, so when it came to popping the question the ring was always going to be pretty impressive.

The couple, who have been dating since October but have been friends for years, announced their happy news this morning and will marry next year .

They said: "We are both so excited to be embarking on this life adventure together and can't wait to be married."

They also released a series of gorgeous photos, giving us our first glimpse of Beatrice's gorgeous engagement ring.

Edoardo, who is known as Edo, designed the ring himself in collaboration with the British jewellery designer Shaun Leane.⁣

The happy couple! (PA)

It features a large round brilliant cut central solitaire set on a band of tapered diamond baguettes.

Leane is known for his collaborations with Alexander McQueen, which are considered landmarks in the art of couture jewellery and contemporary body sculpture.

Beatrice and Edo got engaged while away on holiday in Italy earlier this month but it was only officially announced today.

In a statement announcing the happy news, the couple said: "We are extremely happy to be able to share the news of our recent engagement.

"We are both so excited to be embarking on this life adventure together and can't wait to be married.

The ring is absolutely stunning (PA)
Edo designed the ring himself with help from British jewellery designer Shaun Leane (PA)

"We share so many similar interests and values and we know this will stand us in great stead for the years ahead, full of love and happiness."

Beatrice is the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's granddaughter and is ninth in line to the throne, and a cousin of the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex.

Beatrice's ring is very different to the one worn by her sister Princess Eugenie , showing their individual styles.

The younger York sister's ring, designed by her now-husband Jack Brooksbank, features a pink sapphire surrounded by a number of gorgeous, high quality diamonds.

(Misan Harriman)
(Misan Harriman)

The centre stone of Eugenie's ring is an extremely rare padparadscha sapphire, which gets its pink colour from the mixture of its red and yellow make up.

Known as a "lotus blossom" sapphire, which an expert has valued at around £7,000, it's one of the rarest types of sapphire out there.

Jack's design was based on the ring Eugenie's dad  Prince Andrew   proposed to Sarah Ferguson with in March 1986 - a Garrard & Co ring that featured a large ruby stone, surrounded by a halo of 10 diamonds.

Princess Eugenie's ring is very different (PA)

It's also very similar to the Duchess of Cambridge's ring, which is perhaps one of the most famous engagement rings in the world.

Worn by Princess Diana before Kate, it features a blue sapphire surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds.

It was £28,000 when Prince Charles bought it in 1981, and  the piece new would be worth about £85,000 today .

However the ring  caused a bit of drama in the Royal Family when Charles proposed  to Lady Diana Spencer.

Prince Charles gave the blue ring to Diana after their engagement (Corbis)
Her daughter-in-law Kate now wears it (Corbis)

After popping the question, Prince Charles presented Lady Diana with a selection of rings by Garrard of Mayfair, the Crown Jeweller at the time.

But there was a problem with is - it wasn't bespoke.

The ring had actually featured in a catalogue which means, unlike most royal engagement rings, it wasn't unique, reports the   Sun  .

In fact, anyone could have bought exactly the same ring.

Prince Harry also had a go at jewellery designed when he decided to ask Meghan Markle to be his wife.

He created a gorgeous diamond and gold ring, using stones which were very precious to him.

Two of the diamonds are from his mum  Princess Diana  's collection and the other is from Botswana, where he does a lot of charity work.

However Meghan resigned the ring earlier this year, and the diamonds now sit on a different band.

Instead of the original thick gold band, the diamonds now sit on a much thinner micropavé band.

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