Since the dawn of time, silver jewellery has been a symbol of love, and a romantic gift for women. For celebrities and royalty, money is no object when it comes to choosing jewellery for a loved one. Here are a few internationally renowned love stories and the jewellery that embellished them.
King Henry VIII is not remembered for his economic reforms or for uniting England and Wales. Rather, and primarily, he's renowned for his lust for women, a lust that led him to marry six times, sever England's ties with the Roman Catholic church, and found the Anglican Church. How did a woman know Henry VIII was interested? By the gifts she received...
Generous Henry was fond of giving the woman he coveted homes and estates, and an array of jewels - brooches, rings, necklaces, and bracelets, all inlaid with precious gems. The wedding ring of wife number two, the infamous Anne Boleyn - who, as it happens, wore a pendant necklace bearing the letter "B" from her first day at court - was engraved with her motto of choice, "the most happy". In light of history, it's interesting to contemplate the inscription on the wedding ring of wife number four, Anne of Cleves: "God send me well to keep".
Generations later, one of Henry's offspring would favour an opposite path: rather than going through countless women in search of the one to share his crown, he would abdicate the crown altogether so as to share his life with the one woman he loved. Edward VIII was so very much in love with American divorcee Wallis Simpson, that he preferred her over the monarchy, making do with the title "Duke of Windsor" rather than giving up his love.
From the moment they met until his death, Edward showered jewels upon his beloved. Following the duchess's death in 1987, her jewels were sold at public auction; these were among them: a 31 karat diamond ring; a diamond brooch in the shape of a feather, purchased by Elizabeth Taylor; a sapphire pendant purchased for the actress Joan Collins; and her wedding ring, engraved with the word "eternity", and a strand of pearls, both purchased by fashion designer Calvin Klein.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor is known around the world as Hollywood royalty, and she has the jewellery to match. Her engagement gift from Richard Burton - whom she married twice - was no less than a 69.42 karat, pear-shaped diamond. Its value was revealed after she sold it at auction in 1978: it generated enough income to build a hospital in Africa! Taylor has always been known for her love of jewellery. In 2002, she published a book titled, "My Love Affair with Jewellery". In 2005, she launched an eponymous jewellery line, to which she later added perfume.
Another woman known for her love of diamonds was Czarina Ykaterina II of Russia. One of her lovers, baron Grigori Vladimirovitch, spent 400,000 rubles to buy her a 300 karat diamond. This diamond, which originated in a shrine in India, came to be known as the Orlov Diamond. It was ultimately cut down to 199.6 karats, and inlaid in the Russian crown.
Contemporary women also love diamonds. The wedding ring that singer Beyonce received from Jay-Z bears a flawless, 18-karat diamond inlaid in platinum, who's estimated worth is $5 million. The ring that Catherine Zeta Jones received on her engagement to Michael Douglas, who is 25 years her senior, is actually an antique wedding ring from the 1920s: it's a 10-karat marquise diamond surrounded by 28 smaller gems, and it's estimated to be worth over $1 million.
The diamond that Tom Cruise gave Katy Holmes weighs half that - "just" five karats - but its perfect oval shape and pink-gold and platinum Art Deco setting compensate for that. The diamond in the wedding ring worn by pop star Christina Aguilera also weighs five karats; it cost her husband Jordan Bratman $54,000. Scarlett Johansson's husband, Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, gave the actress an elegant, yellow-gold ring with a three-karat diamond, which cost him the modest sum of "only" $30,000.
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