The Duchess of Edinburgh’s Engagement Ring Sparkles at University College London

This week, the Duchess of Edinburgh learned about progress toward preserving and restoring sight—and she gave us a sparkling glimpse of her classic royal engagement ring in the process.

On Monday, the Duchess of Edinburgh visited the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London with one of her patronages, Fight for Sight. Sophie has been keenly interested in the field of eye research for more than a decade, prompted in part by the vision problems suffered by her daughter, Lady Louise, before a pair of corrective surgeries. At UCL, Sophie toured the facility’s inherited corneal disease laboratory to learn about cutting-edge genetics research funded by Fight for Sight.

The Buckingham Palace website notes, “The Duchess of Edinburgh is passionate about eliminating avoidable blindness.” Along with her work with numerous eye-care charities in the United Kingdom, Sophie also serves as a global ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and has made visits to India, Qatar, Malawi, and Bangladesh to see projects that are tackling avoidable blindness.

For her visit to UCL, Sophie wore a floral blouse with a leather dress from the brand Loewe. She accessorized with a familiar pair of gold-plated hoop earrings from Giulia Barela.

Here’s a closer look at the Poetica Small Hoop Earrings from the brand, which was founded in Rome by Giulia Barela as part of a second-act career change after a previous focus on work in international relations. The brand emphasizes that it’s never too late to change course and pursue your dreams.

We previously saw Sophie wear the earrings with different outfits during the Edinburghs’ royal tour of Malta in October. Here, she wears them in Valletta on October 8.

Sophie also donned a lab coat during her UCL visit, plus another sparkling accessory: her classic diamond engagement ring, which has been in her collection for a quarter of a century.

Here’s a closer view of the ring from this week’s lab visit, taken as Sophie looked through a microscope. The ring features a two-carat central oval diamond flanked by two smaller, heart-shaped diamonds, all set in white gold. It was made by Asprey & Garrard (now Garrard & Co.), the firm that then served as the crown jeweler to the British royal family.

Sophie and Edward announced their engagement to the public in January 1999. During a press conference at St. James’s Palace in London, Edward joked with reporters and photographers about the ring: “Have you got your dark glasses on? If it catches the sun, you’ll be blinded!” The ring still sparkles as mightily today, and the classic design has stood the test of time.

There’s a good reason that the ring feels as classic and elegant today as it did in 1999. The style and design of Sophie’s ring echoes another famous British royal engagement ring: the diamond ring given in 1947 by Edward’s father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. That ring was made using diamonds taken from a tiara that had been given by the last Emperor and Empress of Russia to Philip’s mother, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark. The late Queen wore the ring for almost 75 years before her passing in 2022. This week would have marked the couple’s 77th wedding anniversary.