Meghan Markle debuted her new bling at Trooping the Colours earlier this month in her first public appearance since giving birth to her son Archie in early May. The Duchess of Sussex swapped two side diamonds for a diamond-encrusted band after celebrating her one-year wedding anniversary with husband Prince Harry, who designed her engagement ring. But E! News host Justin Sylvester branded the decision to change the original band as “messed up” as he argued Meghan had changed “part of history.”

Mr Sylvester said: “That’s messed up. Your husband gave you an engagement ring and you altered it a year after you got that ring?

“Come on. It’s just terrible. You breathe through it and you just hope one day you get an upgrade in five to ten years.

“That first ring was a part of history. It’s what Harry gave the first bi-racial member of the British monarchy – that’s a significant moment.”

Prince Harry designed Meghan’s engagement ring to include her favourite metal, yellow gold, and a diamond from Botswana – a country close to the Duke’s heart and the location of the couple’s second date.

The two side diamonds originally on the band had been handpicked from the jewellery collection of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. 

But royal commentator and E! Chief News Correspondent Melanie Bromley defended Meghan Markle’s decision to modify the ring, insisting the Duchess had changed it to make it “more in line” to her taste.

Ms Bromley said: “It looked gorgeous before, Harry designed it but she has updated it, or at least made it more in line with what she wanted. It looks gorgeous.

“It’s a thing she’s going to have on her finger for the rest of her life. You have to make it so that you are going to love it.”

Speaking to the BBC following their engagement in late 2017, Meghan showed off the ring and praised her future husband for putting so much thought into the piece.

Because she has never met Princess Diana, the now-Duchess of Sussex said it was important to include her diamonds to keep her close to the couple as they embarked on their journey together.

She said: “To be able to have this, which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us, it’s perfect.”

Meghan Markle is not however the first member of the Royal Family to upgrade the jewellery as Kate, Duchess of Cambridge also had alterations done on a pair of earrings she received after marrying Prince William. 

In 2012, the Duke of Cambridge gifted his mother’s earrings to Kate, who removed the stud fastening, changing the pair to a single pair of drop earrings.

Princess Diana mostly wore them as double drop earrings, although she was occasionally pictured wearing them as a single pair of studs.

In a special “letter of wishes” included in her will, Princess Diana wrote: “I would like to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it.

“I leave the exact division of the jewellery to your discretion.”

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The Queen is known to have access to a large collection of jewellery handed down from generation to generation of royals which are stored in a large vault.

Despite the collection consisting of around 300 pieces, the monarch has through the years appeared to favour a selected few when carrying out her official duties.

The Queen has been spotted repeatedly wearing a familiar pair of pearl earrings known as Queen Mary’s Button Earrings, and have a small diamond mounted on the top.

They can be seen in photographs from Her Majesty’s daytime engagements, but she also wore them for her grandchildren’s weddings, including Princess Eugenie’s, Prince Harry’s, and Prince William’s.

Another recent celebratory outing was for Princess Charlotte’s christening in 2015, however the familiar pair can be spotted going all the way back to the Fifties.

The classic pair were from the collection of Her Majesty’s grandmother, Queen Mary, who died in 1953.

It is said that the Queen, who keeps many pieces of jewellery that came from Queen Mary, often refers affectionately to such pieces as “Granny’s”.

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