Prince William‘s wife, the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) has one of those most iconic engagement rings of all time.

In 2010, William proposed to his then-girfriend with his late mother‘s ring. The ring that once belonged to Princess Diana is a stunning 12-carat sapphire, set in 18-carat white gold and surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds.

There was a time when we almost never saw Kate without the sapphire sparkler on her finger, but recently she has opted not to wear it on a few occassions.

Here’s more on that and what the princess has put on instead, plus which royal lady you’ll never catch wearing her engagement ring.

What Kate’s been seen wearing instead of her engagement ring

The jewelry experts at the U.K. retailer Steven Stone gave some insights about why Kate doesn’t always wear her engagement ring and what she replaces it with to continue to honor her marriage to the Prince of Wales.

Maxwell Stone said: “Kate Middleton’s decision to forgo her engagement ring on several occasions since resuming royal duties has sparked plenty of speculation. However, this isn’t the first time she’s gone without it. In early 2023, she temporarily removed her ring while visiting Royal Liverpool University Hospital – likely for health and safety reasons. This aligns with previous instances, such as her visits to Evelina Children’s Hospital in 2020 and Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2018, where she also chose to leave it off.”

He continued: “Kate continues to show her love and commitment to Prince William in other ways. She appears to have been regularly wearing the eternity ring he gifted her to celebrate Prince George’s birth. Crafted from 18 carat white gold with a high-polish finish, the ring is adorned with 0.23ct of diamonds and retails for £1,500 ($1,950).

“Recently, the princess has also been spotted wearing two additional eternity rings — a slim white diamond band and a mixed sapphire and diamond band. While the former remains unidentified, it’s likely to be worth around £1,000 ($1,300), while the latter appears to be the Étincelle de Cartier wedding band. Featuring 19 brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 0.24 carats and 19 brilliant-cut sapphires totalling 0.34 carats, the exquisite piece retails at £4,700 ($6,110).”

1 royal lady never wears her engagement ring

While the future queen still wears her engagement ring just not all the time, another queen doesn’t ever wear hers.

Queen Letizia of Spain has not worn her engagment ring from King Felipe since 2012.

“Queen Letizia’s engagement ring is very unique in comparison to other royal rings, which mostly feature a large center stone and perhaps smaller stones on either side,” Maxwell Stone explained. “Instead, her sophisticated band features 16 vertically set baguette-cut diamonds in either a platinum or white-gold setting. From looking at the ring, it looks like it has a value of around £20,000 ($25,000) to £25,000 ($31,000).”

The Spanish queen shared that the reason she stopped wearing her diamond sparkler along with her gold wedding band is because she has to meet a lot of dignitaries every day and with the endless handshakes — the rings hurt her hand.