The Princess Royal's second engagement ring has an Earth-friendly backstory

    Princess Anne's commitment to sustainability is one of the most impressive and effortless of all the royal family.  

    At 73, the thrifty Princess Royal still chooses to recycle clothes she first debuted in her twenties, as well as rewearing the late Queen Elizabeth II's garments and wearing precious jewellery that has been in her collection for decades. 

    Speaking about her penchant for pre-loved fashion, Princess Anne told PA: "You go through the phase when fashion was very structured and people followed fashion, but you had tailors and dressmakers who absolutely fundamentally made that, but you could also alter it because they had the skills to do so.

    “Now you’ve got instant fashion which you then throw away, you don’t alter it because it wouldn’t be worthwhile.

    "So we’ve got to relearn those skills, go back and say 'actually, we need materials that can do more than one evolution of fashion'.”

    In a new study by ethical jewellery brand, KIAASH, Princess Anne's £25,000 engagement ring has been named the 'most eco-conscious celebrity engagement ring' and the most planet-friendly of all the royal family's wedding jewels, boasting a carbon footprint of 1,299Kg. 

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    KIAASH analysed the carat, setting material and complexity of several engagement ring settings to reveal the hidden carbon footprint of the world’s most iconic celebrity and royal engagement rings.

    Princess Anne's stunning cabochon-cut blue sapphire ring, given to her by second husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, has been recognised for its earth-friendly components. 

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    Flanked by a cluster of delicate diamonds, Anne's beguiling blue sapphire 5-carat ring is truly one-of-a-kind, and broke the mould of royal engagement rings when she was presented with it in 1992 due to its unique design and brightly-coloured stone. 

    Sapphires are widely considered the most sustainable and ethical of all precious stones, due to being sourced from localised industries of small-scale artisanal miners.

    These low-conflict stones are typically mined by hand, meaning they not only have a lower environmental impact, but sapphire mining creates employment opportunities and supports the local economy.

    Princess Anne and Sir Timothy said 'I do' at Crathie Kirk church in Scotland in front of an intimate crowd of just 30 people. The modest guestlist included the royal's parents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, her children Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, as well as King Charles (then Prince Charles) and Prince Andrew.

    Princess Anne met Timothy when he was serving on the Royal Yacht Britannia as a commander in the Royal Navy, and they have now been married for over 30 years.

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