Fact-checking: Did Meghan Markle's ring really 'grow in size' as royal watcher suggests?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been married since 2018 and have been an item since 2016. Prince Harry proposed to Meghan in late 2017 with a ring different from the one we see today.

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Meghan Markle has two engagement rings

When Prince Harry proposed to Meghan in 2017, he presented her with a beautiful trilogy ring with a gold band, which is her favourite according to Prince Harry. However, 18 months later, Meghan was seen wearing a completely different engagement ring.

thumbnail — Meghan Markle's old engagement ring Chris Jackson

Throughout her first pregnancy, Meghan was seen without her engagement and wedding rings. Many assumed that Meghan had her rings altered due to the swelling of her finger. In reality, it wasn’t Meghan that decided to change the ring, it was her husband, Prince Harry.

Prince Harry's decision

Prince Harry decided to upgrade his wife's engagement ring as a one-year wedding anniversary gift.

In the royal biography, Finding Freedom, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand explain:

On May 19, 2019, Harry also surprised his wife of one year with the gift of a ring that he had created with jeweller-to-the-stars Lorraine Schwartz, a favourite of Meghan's.

Meghan’s new engagement ring now contained more sentimental value. Indeed, Prince Harry had personalised the engagement ring by adding his family of three’s birthstones on the inside of the band, peridot for Meghan, emerald for Archie and sapphire for Prince Harry. Also, the small diamonds on the ring come from his late mother’s personal collection and the main diamond came from Botswana, where the couple vacationed together.

During the engagement interview the couple did with the BBC Prince Harry explained:

The ring is obviously yellow gold because that's [Meghan's] favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection, to make sure that she's with us on this crazy journey together,

It seems as though Prince Harry knows his wife really well and all of her favourite jewellery.

Meghan Markle's ring goes 'missing' and rumours emerge

Getting an upgrade is not the only thing that put Meghan Markle's ring in the spotlight. For the past few months many publications reported that the ring had gone 'missing'. Of course, the situation caused a crazy amount of gossip and left royal experts, commentators and watchers to share their guesses as to why this was happening.

However, to many's disappointment, the reason for the ring's disappearance had nothing to do with the status of the couple's relationship. As Glamour confirms, the ring simply was undergoing repairs. People Magazine also explained that a 'setting came loose' which motivated the repairs.

The engagement ring's return

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle went on a ski trip in Canada to attend the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025's One Year to Go event, the ring took centre stage. Indeed, it was spotted firmly placed on the Duchess' finger alongside her wedding band and eternity ring (yes, Meghan Markle wears three rings).

Whispers of a new ring come out

And now, over the weekend of 20 April 2024, articles about the Duchess of Sussex' engagement ring started coming out once again. One of them, published by GB News, was written after Alliance of Moms, a 'community of philanthropists who support pregnant and parenting youth in LA’s foster care system' posted a picture of Meghan Markle on Instagram as part of their #LOVELIKEAMOTHER campaign.

In the image, the Duchess is wearing the T-shirt of the campaign and is posing with friends. In the pictures, her engagement ring is also in sight.

Reporting on the sighting, GB News titled their article 'Meghan Markle causes fan frenzy as engagement ring diamond has 'changed size''. OK! also titled their article ''She Had a Diamond Reset': Intense Meghan Markle Fan Speculation Mounts Over New Look to Duchess' Engagement Ring'.

In the two articles, the same comments are quoted and they hint at a change in the design of the ring. GB News write:

In the Alliance of Moms photographs, fans pointed out that the engagement ring diamond appears to have grown in size.

BothOK! and GB News quote one supposed 'fan' who wrote:

I’ve been saying she took wedding ring off to slowly change the size of the diamond. It wasn’t big enough for her. I’ve said she will make that blood diamond her wedding ring soon…what do we have here!?

However, this post, found on X is not from a fan. It was actually written by the opposite: it was posted on a Meghan Markle hate account. The user's bio reads:

I loathe Meghan Markle.

Moreover, the post shared by GB News and OK! doesn't include the hashtags used in the post which were: '#MeghanMarkIe #MeghanMarkleEXPOSED #MeghanMarkleAmericanPsycho #meghanmarkleisaconartist'

We weren't the only one who have noticed GB News' apparent bias. Commenting directly under their post on X sharing the article, some users have also expressed scepticism on the change of the ring.

One writes:

Nope. It’s the same diamond. She has 2 other rings either side of it creating an illusion that it is bigger now.

While another added:

It looks the same to me. It's the lighting and she's wearing other rings with it.

Apart from the critical post which is being used by several media outlet as proof that there is controversy surrounding Meghan Markle's ring, comments under the actual Instagram post made by Alliance of Moms are positive. The same can be said about comments under the official hashtag #LOVELIKEAMOM.

Finally, we looked at the last time the ring was spotted in public, which was during the Invictus Games event in Canada, and from the press images the diamonds do not appear to have 'grown in size'.