Alexi Lubomirski / Kensington Palace
Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle with a trilogy ring he'd designed himself.
- Meghan Markle's engagement ring has resulted in a huge spike in trinity rings, according to a bespoke jeweller.
- She is not the only royal bride to have influenced ring styles - halo rings, as seen on the fingers of the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Eugenie, have also grown in popularity over recent years.
- Nikolay Piriankov, founder of the bespoke jeweller Taylor & Hart, told us how recent royal nuptials have impacted the industry.
When Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle, he did so with a stunning engagement ring he designed himself.
The impressive sparkler is a yellow gold trilogy ring - it has one main diamond sourced from Botswana, and two smaller ones, each from Princess Diana's jewellery collection, on either side.
According to a bespoke jeweller, this style has massively increased in popularity since the Duchess of Sussex's ring was revealed to the world, and trilogy is now one of the most popular engagement ring styles.
"Originally made popular with its wonderfully romantic sentiment of three stones representing the past, present, and future, trilogy engagement rings have been on a stratospheric rise in popularity since the engagement and the subsequent marriage of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry," Nikolay Piriankov, founder of the bespoke jeweller Taylor & Hart, told Business Insider.
Read more: A bespoke jeweler says there's a good reason you shouldn't choose a white gold engagement ring
He added that typically, all three stones are the same shape, but Prince Harry instead chose an elongated cushion diamond flanked by round diamonds.
"It's an impressive pairing that has inspired others to create their own unique shape combinations," he said.
"Trilogy styles tend to have more presence on the finger because they use larger side diamonds that give off more sparkle, usually without small diamonds on the band. Steeped in sentiment and elevated by a royal, trilogy engagement ring styles are concurrently classic and bold."
Markle's ring isn't the only one to influence engagement trends - halo rings have grown in popularity, which is likely due to the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Eugenie's rings.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
The Duchess of Cambridge's engagement ring is halo style.
"Originally designed to make the centre diamond look larger by encircling it with small round diamonds, the halo engagement ring style has metamorphosed into so much more," Piriankov explained.
"Variations like using different diamond shapes or sizes in the halo creates dimensionality to any design. Diamond halos around centre coloured gemstones serve as an icy contrast to its vibrancy and adds a luxurious wow factor to the ring."
He added that Kate Middleton and Princess Eugenie's rings are "perfect examples of this modern variation."
"People are experimenting more with colour and using coloured gemstones as the accent halo gemstones, typically chosen because the coloured gemstone is special to their love story."
The Duchess of Cambridge's sapphire ring originally belonged to William and Harry's mother, Princess Diana - when Prince Charles proposed to her, he offered her a choice of a selection of rings, and she chose the sapphire and diamond halo ring, according to Harper's Bazaar.
As for Princess Eugenie, her husband Jack Brooksbank proposed without a ring, and the couple designed the pink padparadscha sapphire and diamond halo ring - which bore a striking resemblance to her mother Sarah Ferguson's - together.
Brooksbank told the BBC: "Why I loved it so much is because it changes colour from every different angle that you look at it, which is what I think of Eugenie. That she changes colour and is just so amazing. And we thought that was an amazing sign."