At a symposium presenting research about early childhood and the importance of parents and adults in their lives, Kate Middleton found a way to quietly evoke her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.
On Wednesday at the Shaping Us National Symposium in London, Kate delivered the keynote address while wearing sapphire and diamond earrings that once belonged to the late Princess of Wales. The drop earrings coordinate with Kate’s engagement ring, which also once belonged to Diana, the mother of Kate’s husband, Prince William.
Kate has worn the 18-carat ring consistently since her engagement in October 2010, and sometimes paired it with a set of smaller stud earrings in a similar style, leading to speculation that she’d altered Diana’s original drop earrings. However, beginning in 2022, Kate has cycled the larger drop earrings into her looks more frequently, like at 2022’s Trooping the Colour festivities and that year’s Commonwealth Day of Service.
In their engagement interview, William said that the choice to propose with his mother’s ring was a very intentional way to keep his mother’s legacy alive since her death in 1997.
“[The ring] is very special to me and Kate’s very special to me now as well,” he said. “It was my way of making sure my mother didn’t miss out on today, and the excitement and the fact that we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.”
Kate often pays tribute to her late mother-in-law as well as her departed grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth III, through jewelry. Her most frequently donned tiara, the Lover’s Knot, was a favorite of Diana’s, and she notably wore the queen’s three-strand pearl necklace at some of the late monarch’s funeral events. She wore pieces passed down from both women at King Charles’ coronation ceremony.
On Wednesday in London, Kate paired Diana’s drop earrings with a vibrant purple Emilia Wickstead two-piece pantsuit.
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