Diamond Engagement Rings & Royalty

History of the Engagement Ring (cont.)

The tradition of a diamond engagement ring dates from 1477 when Archduke Maximilian of Austria – later to become Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I – proposed to and was accepted by Mary of Valois, the Duchess of Burgundy. Diamonds, very rare at that time – and were therefore only affordable by royalty - were thought of as magical: having been created in flames of love. Royalty, of course, figured they had a lock on that emotion as well.

Just as a point of interest, the smallest engagement ring ever given was that presented to 2-year old Princess Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon at her betrothal to the Dauphin, infant son of Francis I of France. That marriage would never come to be and little Mary would become known to history as "Bloody Mary", during her reign as Queen of England 1553-1558.

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