Why Kate Middleton and Princess Eugenie's engagement rings look very, very similar.

When news of Princess Eugenie’s engagement first broke and photos were released of her stunning engagement ring, we couldn’t help but feel… a hint of deja vu.

You see, it bears quite a resemblance to another royal engagement ring – that of Kate Middleton’s.

Both are similar in size and feature striking coloured centre stones surrounded by a halo of diamonds. Plus, despite the fact that they are both huge sparkling rocks, they each have a delicate, flower-like quality.

Well, as it turns out, Eugenie’s ring, in a sense, was actually a ‘copy’ of some royal bling – but not exactly in the way you’d think.

While Kate Middleton and Princess Eugenie’s rings have subtle similarities, Princess Eugenie’s ring was actually modelled on her mother, Sarah Ferguson’s ring from Prince Andrew, which was designed in the ’80s by crown jeweller Garrard & Co.

And Princess Diana’s engagement ring, also designed by Garrard & Co in the same era, is, of course, the ring Kate Middleton wears on her finger.

So it seems it might’ve actually been Fergie’s ring which mimicked the style of Diana’s all those years ago. Phew.

Deputy Editor at Royal Central, Jamie Samhan, told Marie Clare his suspicions that Eugenie’s fiancé Jack Brooksbank had the ring designed to look like her mother’s.

“When Jack Brooksbank proposed to Princess Eugenie, he created a ring that was very similar to her mother, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York’s, ring,” Samhan explains.

And now that we’ve seen them alongside each other, we have to agree.

Here they are below:

Royal commentator Eloise Parker confirms the theory.

"If it's inspired by a previous royal engagement ring, it's more likely to be the one worn by her mother, which was a red Burmese ruby with a diamond surround," Parker says. "The pink and red stones are much closer in colour than the deep blue stone that originally belonged to Princess Diana."

She went on to explain that in the '80s, Sarah's ring was actually designed by the same jeweller as Diana's - so of course it was a similar style.

"Many people noticed the resemblance to the Duchess of Cambridge's engagement ring, that once belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales," Samhan explains.

"The reason that they look very much the same is that Diana's ring was by Garrard & Co in 1981 and Sarah's ring was from the same designer a few short years later in 1986. Prince Andrew did personally design the ring that was given to Fergie, compared to Diana's that was from the collection, but most designers tend to stick to a signature style. So when Jack set out to create a ring for Eugenie just like her mother's, the groundwork that it would also resemble Diana/Kate's ring was already there."

She added that the engagement ring design isn't really a copy of any specific ring - it is just the royal look.

"Although Princess Eugenie's engagement ring is reminiscent of Kate's with the large centre sapphire and diamond surround, it's a very classic design for a royal engagement ring and not likely an intentional similarity," Parker says.

We're just glad we got to the bottom of it.

Do you follow Lady Startup? Want your LSU dreams to come to fruition or just give us some feedback? Take our short survey now: