As Seen in the Media: How Kate Middleton’s Sapphire Ring Put Us in the Spotlight
Noon, November 16, 2010. A photo goes out to the world: Prince William’s fiancée, Kate Middleton, holding up her left hand. On it is Princess Diana’s oval blue sapphire, framed in diamonds. As the Kate Middleton sapphire ring captured worldwide attention, our website went down just ten minutes later, 20 floors above Fifth Avenue.
That was the moment the Kate Middleton sapphire ring changed our family business overnight. Within hours, our phones were ringing with calls from the United States, Britain, Canada and beyond. Over the following months, reporters from the Associated Press, the BBC, Forbes, The Telegraph, the New York Post, JCK and CNN came to our Manhattan office to find out what was going on.
This post opens our new As Seen in the Media series, where we look back at the moments our family business made the news. Every fact below has been checked against the original coverage.
November 16, 2010: The Day the Kate Middleton Sapphire Ring Crashed Our Website
The Associated Press told the story like this:
The engagement photo of Kate Middleton wearing the ring was released at noon, and within 10 minutes our server crashed. It was back up an hour later.
Sales staff in our office, 20 floors above Fifth Avenue, took calls from Great Britain, Canada, the United States and elsewhere.
By late afternoon, our workshop, which normally made five to ten high-end engagement rings a day, was starting production on about 30, “and counting.”
I called my wife and said, ‘Honey, I’m not coming home tonight!’ We’re in a frenzy. This is changing our business overnight.
Michael Arnstein, to the Associated Press
Michael called it “the biggest news for our company since Princess Diana received her sapphire.”
Our chief information officer at the time, Evan Guttman, later told The Telegraph that traffic had jumped about 100-fold. At first the team didn’t know why. “One of our staff saw the engagement news and that’s when we realised we would be having the ride of our lives.”
Inside Our Manhattan Office: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at Our Desks
In the weeks that followed, reporters found a team working flat out. Here’s how the rush unfolded, in the press’s own words:
New York Post, November 30, 2010
“Nobody has left the office. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner in here,” Michael said. “A few weeks ago, we had 15 employees, and today we’ll have 23 staffers to keep up with the outrageous demand.”
BBC News, December 10, 2010
The BBC described “an office in overdrive.” Michael said: “This time of year before Christmas, we’re usually selling anywhere from three to 10 rings a day and now we’re selling 50 to 75 rings a day.”
Forbes, February 7, 2011
Nearly three months on, demand hadn’t slowed. “November was a record month by far, December was a record month by far, January, still a record month by far.”
The Telegraph, April 9, 2011
By then we had sold more than a thousand replicas of the ring, and Michael had just come back from Sri Lanka with more sapphires to keep up with demand.
In Michael’s Words
Michael’s on-record comments from those months tell the story best. On the first day, he told the AP that Diana’s ring had sparked a surge in our business once before, after her own engagement in 1981. “Now, it’s turned into a legacy,” he said. He also planned to fly to Sri Lanka to buy more sapphires, because he expected demand to keep climbing through the holidays.
Two weeks later he told the New York Post: “We’ve sold well over 100 rings. I’m anticipating we’re going to sell every sapphire we own before Christmas, which is unprecedented.” By February he was telling Forbes that Kate was “a walking, talking fashion advertisement for the gemstone.”
On TV and in the Papers
Our compilation video, The Natural Sapphire Company On TV (at the top of this post), collects TV segments from that period. In it, one anchor says the royal engagement “has actually started a new frenzy for the stone” and calls Kate’s ring “the most famous ring in the world.” Another reports that we sold “a record 30, count that, 30 sapphire rings in 24 hours.” The day after the engagement, November 17, 2010, FOX 5’s Good Day New York also interviewed us about the replica orders flooding in.
Probably the biggest thing that’s ever happened in our company history.
Michael Arnstein, on TV
On CNN in April 2011, Michael described what the engagement had meant for the business: “In 2008 when the recession hit, just like every other business we were under tremendous pressure… And now, just a short two years later, it’s been a total reversal for us.”
Media Timeline at a Glance
| Date | Outlet | What was reported |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 16, 2010 | Associated Press | Our website crashed within 10 minutes of the engagement photo; about 30 rings went into production that afternoon |
| Nov. 30, 2010 | New York Post | Staff grew from 15 to 23; “well over 100” sapphire engagement rings sold |
| Dec. 10, 2010 | BBC News | Daily ring sales up from 3-10 to 50-75 |
| Feb. 7, 2011 | Forbes | Record sales in November, December and January |
| Apr. 4-5, 2011 | PR Newswire; JCK | We unveiled a 69.35-carat sapphire ring in the Diana style |
| Apr. 9, 2011 | The Telegraph | Traffic up about 100-fold; more than 1,000 replicas sold |
| Apr. 2011 | CNN | Michael on the “total reversal” since the recession |
The Ring Itself: The Princess Diana Sapphire Ring, Fact-Checked
Because this is one of the most famous rings in the world, here’s what reliable sources agree on, and what they don’t.
| Original owner | Lady Diana Spencer. Her engagement to Prince Charles was announced on February 24, 1981. |
| Maker | Garrard, the Crown Jeweller at the time. Diana chose the ring from Garrard’s existing collection, so it was not one of a kind. |
| Design | An oval blue sapphire surrounded by 14 round diamonds, set in 18-karat white gold. People reports that, according to Garrard, the design was inspired by the sapphire-and-diamond brooch Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria in 1840. |
| The sapphire | An oval sapphire from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), most often reported as about 12 carats. |
| Passed to Kate | Prince William proposed with the ring in October 2010 in Kenya. The engagement was announced on November 16, 2010, and the couple married at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. |
| Today | Catherine has been Princess of Wales since 2022 and still wears the ring. |
A note on carat weight: Neither the Royal Household nor Garrard has published an official weight, and reports disagree. Most sources say about 12 carats. Some 2010-2011 news reports, including the AP, the New York Post and Forbes, called it an “18-carat” sapphire, probably mixing it up with the 18-karat gold. Our own April 2011 press release didn’t give a figure either. It simply said the sapphire was “under 20cts,” which fits the 12-carat reports. So we say “about 12 carats, as widely reported” and don’t claim an exact figure.
Our 69.35-Carat Ring “Fit for a Queen”
The run-up to the wedding kept sapphires in the headlines. On April 4, 2011, we announced the completion of a ring with a 69.35-carat natural blue sapphire from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), surrounded by sixteen half-carat diamonds totaling more than 8 carats. JCK reported that the sapphire is unheated and set in platinum.
Our press release described it as the largest sapphire ring ever made in the Princess Diana style, certified by four international gem laboratories, including the GIA. It was priced at $1.5 million at the time.
This is the finest ring we’ve ever created in our 72 year history.
Michael Arnstein, April 2011
This is not a new piece. Our April 2011 press release linked to the ring under item number J2565, and the same ring is still listed under that number on our website today.
Why Reporters Came to Us
- Sapphire specialists since 1939. Michael’s grandfather, Walter Arnstein, started the family gem business, and in 1939 he focused it on sapphires and other precious gemstones (Our History).
- We already knew this ring. The Telegraph reported that we first offered a replica of Diana’s ring in 1982. With no technical details available, our team recreated it from hundreds of photographs of Diana wearing it.
- We had the stones. Our inventory of certified natural sapphires meant we could start production the same day.
- We make our own rings. Our own designers, CAD team and jewelers work in-house (Our Workshop), so reporters could watch replicas being made.
Get the Royal Look: Royal Sapphire Engagement Rings from Our Collection
Most of the replicas we made in 2010 used 1- to 2-carat certified sapphires, the AP reported, and were mostly priced from $1,000 to $2,500. You don’t need a 12-carat stone to get the look. What matters is an oval blue sapphire with a bright frame of diamonds.
Looking for your own version? Browse our natural blue sapphires and sapphire engagement rings, or ask our designers about a custom sapphire ring. Ask about every stone’s origin, any treatment, and its gem laboratory report.
Then and Now
It’s been more than 15 years since the Kate Middleton sapphire ring crashed our website. Royal jewelry is still close to our hearts: in 2015, to celebrate the birth of Princess Charlotte, we designed a $45,000 baby rattle in 18k white gold, set with sapphires, rubies and diamonds in the pattern of the Union Jack.
When we sent the rattle in 2015, we explained why on our website: “When Kate and William were engaged with the iconic blue sapphire ring that once belonged to Princess Diana, our sapphire ring sales rocketed.” We added: “We’re thanking Kate and William for introducing our company to the world.” We could have written the same words in the spring of 2011, when Michael said in our press release: “Never in our company history did we experience such demand for sapphire engagement rings.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Kate Middleton sapphire ring?
It’s the ring Princess Diana received in 1981: an oval blue Ceylon sapphire, widely reported as about 12 carats, surrounded by 14 round diamonds in 18-karat white gold, made by Garrard.
When did Kate Middleton get the ring?
Prince William proposed in October 2010 in Kenya. The engagement was announced on November 16, 2010.
How much is the ring worth?
No one knows for certain. In 2010 Michael told the AP the sapphire alone would be worth about $300,000 at retail, and on CNN in 2011 he estimated about $250,000 on the open market. The ring’s history makes it priceless.
Was The Natural Sapphire Company really in the news?
Yes. During the engagement and wedding, we were covered by the Associated Press, the New York Post, BBC News, Forbes, JCK, The Telegraph and CNN, among others. Watch our compilation video at the top of this post.
Coming Up in “As Seen in the Media”
More TV appearances, news stories and behind-the-scenes videos from our archive are on the way. In the meantime, browse our sapphire engagement rings, read Kate Middleton’s Sapphire Engagement Ring, contact our gemologists, or book a visit to our NYC showroom.
Image credits: Photo of Catherine: “The Duke and Duchess Cambridge at Commonwealth Big Lunch on 22 March 2018 – 070” by The Big Lunch, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0. Ring photos and video J2565, J9755 and J5799: © The Natural Sapphire Company. The people shown have not endorsed The Natural Sapphire Company. The ring photos from our collection show our own pieces, not the royal ring.