Touching secret behind the Queen’s wedding ring: Prince Philip chose the inscription on Her Majesty’s band and no one other than couple and the jeweller know what’s engraved on the inside, royal expert reveals
- The Queen’s wedding ring is made from Welsh gold and has an inscription
- No one other than the Queen, Prince Philip and the engraver knows what it says
- Her engagement ring was also a gift, as Prince Philip made it from a tiara that belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg
The Queen and Prince Philip will celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary next month, and in the seven decades since the royal couple wed, they have kept one secret closely guarded.
Similarly to Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, Her Majesty’s wedding ring is made in Welsh gold.
But it is inscribed with a secret message, that even those closest to the monarch don’t know, and was chosen by Prince Philip in 1947.
Similarly to Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, Her Majesty’s wedding ring is made in Welsh gold. But it is inscribed with a secret message, that even those closest to the monarch don’t know. She is pictured showing her ring in 2007
Writing in her new book Prince Philip: A Portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh, London-based royal expert and biographer Ingrid Seward writes: ‘At least Philip didn’t have the expense of a wedding ring, as the people of Wales supplied a nugget of Welsh gold from which the ring as made.
‘She never takes it off and inside the ring is an inscription.
‘No one knows what it says, other than the engraver, the Queen and her husband.’
Her engagement ring was also a gift, as Prince Philip made it from a tiara that belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg.
Queen Elizabeth, then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip are pictured on their wedding day in 1947
Alice received it as a gift from Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia when she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark.
Before proposing, Philip, now 99, had the tiara taken apart and repurposed the diamonds to make a ring her his bride-to-be, now 94.
The young prince then designed the three-carat solitaire with five smaller diamonds.
No one knows what the inscription of the monarch’s wedding ring (pictured in 2010) reads, other than Philip and the monarch herself
The couple got married on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey.
The Queen had eight bridesmaids, including her sister Princess Margaret and cousin Princess Alexandra of Kent.
More than 200million people globally watched the service on TV, with around 2000 guests in attendance.
Her engagement ring was also a gift, as Prince Philip made it from a tiara that belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg. The Queen is pictured with her rings at Newbury Racecourse in 2015
The Queen and Prince Philip have recently returned from Balmoral.
The couple spent six weeks at their Aberdeenshire home but have now moved to Norfolk together to ‘spend time privately’ at the their Sandringham estate, where the Duke spends much of his retirement at Wood Farm.
Amid the Covid-19 crisis, the Queen will return to Windsor this month, from where she will travel to Buckingham Palace for working visits.