What Were the Royal Wedding Rings Made Of?
We watched the royal wedding. Did you?
And while we were caught up in the wonderful spectacle of two young people starting their married life together, we couldn’t help noticing that a lot of jewelry was on display too. (We assume that most of the gold and gemstones we saw were the real thing, given the wealth of the celebrities in attendance and the serious nature of the event.)
Heck, even the priest who officiated at the wedding itself (Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury), was wearing some kind of clasp on his robe that looked like it was made of gold and black headlight-sized stones that were probably made of onyx. Undoubtedly, that clasp had a rich history. Maybe it was worn at previous royal weddings or beheadings? We don’t know.
But then we come to the most important pieces of jewelry that were on display - the wedding rings that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exchanged. As you might guess, they were pretty special rings, not items that the couple picked up down at the local mall. We did a little research, and learned that . . .
Prince Harry’s Ring Is Made of Platinum
The ring that Harry will wear is made of platinum. Okay, that might not sound too exciting. But it was reportedly fashioned for Harry by Cleave, a workshop that makes jewelry for the royal family. So of the two rings that were exchanged, Harry’s is perhaps the less unusual.
Meghan Markle’s Ring Is Made of Gold
The ring that Meghan Markle will wear, also made by Cleave, is a lot more special. It was reportedly fashioned from a chunk of Welsh gold that the current Queen Elizabeth contributed. What is so special about Welsh gold? Nothing from a metallic point of view. Gold is gold, after all. But nonetheless, Welsh gold is rather special because it is rare. Not a lot of gold has historically been mined in Wales.
Plus, there’s the fact that any piece of gold has both history and mystery. If you wear a gold wedding ring, for example, there is a chance that it could contain tiny amounts of the actual gold that was once worn by, say, Cleopatra, Louis XIV, or another famous figure. Over the years, old pieces of gold jewelry have been melted down, hammered into cubes, fashioned into coins, and beat into bullion and items of jewelry. Old gold can end up practically anywhere.
That’s part of the magic of owning a piece of gold jewelry, like Meghan Markle’s wedding ring or possibly yours.
Another part if the magic is that you generally can’t know the value of gold unless you have it professionally and expertly tested. If you have a piece of gold and don’t know what it is made of or what it is worth, call our labs at 800-426-2344 and inquire about having it tested. The gold that is in Meghan Markle’s ring isn’t the only gold in the world that has magical properties and high value. Yours does too.
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