Meghan Markle was photographed hiking in the Californian sunshine just hours after King Charles III’s Coronation.
While Prince Harry attended his father’s crowning ceremony, Meghan remained at the couple’s home with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Joined by friends, the Duchess looked particularly relaxed in her low key hiking gear, which she accesorised with a stack of expensive jewellery – some of which belonged to her late Mother-In-Law, Princess Diana.
Fine jewellery and engagement ring experts at Steven Stone have taken a close look at the collection of jewellery that Meghan was flaunting and have revealed all of the juicy details – from their history to their value.
Cartier Tank Française Watch
Diana was a lover of watches. When her marriage to Prince Charles began to unravel, she stopped wearing the Patek Philippe gold watch that Prince Charles had given to her on her 20th birthday. In its place, she frequently wore a classic Cartier Tank Louis on a black alligator strap, which was a gift from her father, Earl Edward John Spencer on her 21st birthday.
The Cartier Tank Louis wasn’t the only Tank watch that Princess Diana owned. On more formal occasions, she wore a gold Cartier Tank Française watch. Diana was spotted with the classic timepiece during a number of events – including a visit to London’s Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple in 1997 and an engagement at the British Lung Foundation that same year.
Prince Harry gifted his Mother’s elegant watch to his wife, Meghan Markle, who also appears to place significance on it – she was first seen wearing the accessory at a Fortune magazine summit back in 2022. In 2021, she wore it in a rare portrait of the couple that was released ahead of the couples episode of ‘Time100 Talks’.
Though did you know that the watch wasn’t actually left to Prince Harry? After the Princess passed away, her private jewellery was divided between her two sons and the watch was given to Prince William, while Harry got her engagement ring – the brothers they eventually swapped.
Worth £17,800 ($23,000) at the time, the watch is now likely worth a lot more given its history.
Cartier diamond tennis bracelet
Princess Diana wore her Cartier diamond tennis bracelet several times before her tragic death – including at an American Red Cross Gala in Washington in 1997.
Meghan was first seen wearing the bracelet during a state dinner in Fiji in 2018. She has worn it several times since then, including at a Commonwealth Day service in 2019, at the Salute to Freedom Gala in New York in 2021 and in her tell all interview with Oprah in 2021.
Gifted to Meghan by Prince Harry in the early days of their courtship, it’s widely believed that this particularly bracelet is the one that Harry took stones from to make Meghan’s bespoke engagement ring.
Our experts estimate the bracelet to be worth £140,000 ($175,000).
“Meghan Markle frequently pays tribute to Princess Diana through her jewellery – most notably with the late Princess’ striking aquamarine ring, which the Duchess wore on her wedding day.
During her recent hike in California, Meghan was sporting a stack of impressive jewellery, which included two of Princess Diana’s pieces – a watch and a tennis bracelet.
Princess Diana was spotted wearing her Cartier Tank Francaise watch at a number of formal occasions. Worth £17,800 at the time, the significant timepiece is now likely worth a lot more given its history. Princess Diana also wore her Cartier diamond bracelet several times before her death – with a total carat weight of over 20ct, it’s likely to be worth around £140,000.
It’s interesting that Megan wore such sentimental and valuable pieces of jewellery on a hike. We can only assume that as it was on the same day as King Charles III’s coronation, the Duchess was sending support to Prince Harry through some of his Mother’s jewellery, which totalled over £150,000.”
zack stone, managing director, steven stone
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