Princess Kate Is in the “Early Stages” of Building a Diana-Style Gemstone Legacy

Wimbledon might be over, but I’m still thinking about Princess Kate’s outfits. The Princess of Wales attended three days of the 2026 tennis championships, wearing a tradition-breaking blue trouser suit, a vintage-inspired red peplum dress and a floaty green midi dress with cape detail. But while her outfits were all brand-new, she looked to familiar favorites for her jewelry.

Whether it was her favorite Van Cleef & Arpels earrings, the lapis and moonstone drops she wore with her suit or the ruby and diamond set she’s been wearing more regularly lately, Kate went for tried-and-true pieces of jewelry. Although she’s occasionally worn new pieces to Wimbledon, jewelry expert Nilesh Rakholia says that the Princess of Wales is looking to Princess Diana when it comes to building visual association through jewelry.

“Wimbledon isn’t just another engagement, it’s tradition, and for the Princess of Wales specifically, it comes with a particular kind of scrutiny,” Rakholia, founder of Abelini, shares. Since it’s televised, he says the championships present “a very different kind of pressure than an ordinary public appearance,” adding that Wimbledon “is exactly the kind of occasion where people reach for what’s proven rather than what’s new.”

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Princess Kate certainly has her favorites when it comes to jewelry, wearing the same pieces from jewelers like Kiki McDonough, Cartier, Daniella Draper and Spells of Love on repeat. Rakholia says that “seeing the same pendant or the same earrings appear again at moments like this builds a quiet familiarity over time,” pointing to Kate’s late mother-in-law as an example.

“Think about Princess Diana, mention her name and certain pieces come to mind almost instantly: her sapphire engagement ring, the pearl choker she wore so often it became part of her visual identity,” he notes. “That association wasn’t built in a single appearance, it took years of repetition.”

Sapphires and pearls were two of Diana’s signatures, and Rakholia suggests that Kate might be heading the same way with rubies. “I think we may be watching the early stages of the same thing happen with Kate and her ruby pieces,” he says. “It’s still early days by comparison, but the same quiet, cumulative process that made certain jewelry inseparable from Diana’s image seems to be underway.”