It was a weekend of royal surprises at Wimbledon this year, as the tournament welcomed Kate Middleton not once but twice to watch the ladies’ singles final on Saturday, July 12, and the gentlemen’s singles final on Sunday, July 13. In addition to gracing Centre Court with her presence, the Princess of Wales showcased a brand-new fashion choice, too, wearing all four of her rings together for the first time.
It was on Saturday, while she watched Iga Swiatek’s defeat of Amanda Anisimova from the Royal Box, that Middleton debuted this new ring stack, paired with a cream number from Self Portrait and Cartier earrings. The princess’s choice of rings has become a matter of much discussion over the past year, with royal watchers tracking when she chooses to wear her famous sapphire engagement ring and when she opts instead for a set of eternity rings.
For the ladies’ final, however, Kate chose to combine the two options. One eternity ring, a newer addition to the princess’s jewelry box since last year, is adorned with diamonds and sapphires. The second eternity ring, an older diamond piece, is reportedly a present from Prince William following the birth of Prince George. The third band is Kate’s wedding ring, the Welsh gold piece that she designed alongside Prince William. As for the iconic engagement ring, the monumental sapphire once belonged to Princess Diana, who was given it by King Charles III (then known as the Prince of Wales) to commemorate their own engagement.
There was a time when the 12-carat opal-cut sapphire (surrounded by 14 round-cut diamonds) rarely seemed to leave the princess’s hand after Prince William proposed in 2010 on a trip to Kenya. After Middleton showcased her engagement ring, paired with a matching sapphire dress, during the announcement that she would be marrying the future king, “big blue” quickly became one of the most iconic pieces of jewelry in the world.
In the latter half of 2024, however, many noticed that the princess seemed to have replaced Diana’s engagement ring with something different. After she made hercancer diagnosis public in March 2024, Middleton made few public appearances; yet during that period, her engagement ring was noticeably absent. First making an appearance in the video from Anmer Hall that the Prince and Princess of Wales recorded to congratulate Team GB for their success at the Paris Olympics, the new ring appeared to be a gold band set with diamonds and sapphires. The most clear view of the ring stack came in February 2025, when Middleton joined a class of nursery pupils for a trip to the National Portrait Gallery.
Be it the highly personal video of the Wales family that the princess shared to announce the end of her chemotherapy treatment (where viewers were quick to note the engagement ring was missing when she changed gears in her Land Rover), her deeply moving trip to Southport in October, or the visit to the Royal Marsden in January when she announced that her cancer was in remission—that iconic sapphire was absent for many of the princess’s milestone engagements. The engagement ring was, though, present when Middleton journeyed to South Wales for her first “away day” since her cancer diagnosis, as well as during her anniversary trip to the Isle of Mull with Prince William in April.
At the time, many royal jewelry experts offered explanations for why the princess might have switched from an engagement ring to a stack of eternity bands. “Royal women wear their engagement rings in different ways, just like the rest of us,” said Lauren Kiehna, founder of The Court Jeweller blog, to People magazine. Indeed, Queen Letizia, Meghan Markle, and Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, have all been known to take off their engagement ring for protracted periods of time. Perhaps, with its 12-carat sapphire and 18-karat white gold band, the engagement ring is simply too heavy for day-to-day wear.
Or, Kiehna noted, the dazzling jewel may not be seen as suitable for a royal’s more “intimate” engagements. Indeed, the princess has been making her return to public duties with some quieter, more personal events, and she may feel that the grandiose ring is unsuitable for, say, meeting fellow cancer patients at the Royal Marsden or offering a compassionate ear to the families of the Southport attacks.
Middleton was indeed as empathetic as ever on Saturday, comforting runner-up Amanda Anisimova after she failed to win a game in the finals. While awarding the second-place trophy to the American, Kate could be seen saying, “You should be so proud of yourself,” and Anisimova went on to reveal what happened during her “emotional” conversation with the princess.
“I wasn’t sure if she was going to come out today, if she was going to be there, so it’s just really nice to see her,” Anisimova said. “She definitely had a few things to say that were making me emotional again. She was really kind and she told me to keep my head high.”
Meanwhile, champion Swiatek may have played two flawless sets of tennis, but the player was still anxious not to slip up in front of her royal company while Middleton handed her the trophy on Centre Court. “On the court, she congratulated me and said some nice stuff about my performance,” Swiatek reflected in her press conference ahead of the annual ball on Sunday. “I didn’t want to make a faux pas. Since I was a kid, I’ve been a big fan of the royals.”
As seen by the rapturous applause that Kate Middleton received during her two Wimbledon outings, Swiatek is certainly not the only one.
