Green Goddess Gang P.S. THEY WEREN’T UNLUCKY FOR US!
From Carrie Symonds to Angelina Jolie, emeralds have never been so stylish. So why do some say it’s a rocky road being in the...
HAND held up oh-so-casually as she swept her hair behind her ear, Carrie Symonds’s ring was on display for all to see as she made her first appearance since announcing her engagement to the Prime Minister.
And who could have missed it? A large emerald surrounded by petal-shaped diamonds, it is believed to be an antique worth £30,000.
Yet emeralds aren’t all they seem. Jewellers warn that they’re more prone to scratches and fractures as they are softer than other gems. The stones are also thought to be unlucky by many, and are mired in myth and superstition.
In ancient cultures, emeralds — which symbolise wit, power and wealth — were thought to have strange powers. Cleopatra believed they would ward off serpents, but died from a poisonous snake bite.
From Wallis Simpson to Angelina Jolie, SARAH RAINEY looks at the emerald wearers whose gorgeous rings heralded a not-so-happily ever after ...
SHOWY RING WAS TOO MUCH FOR JACKIE O
JACKIE BOUVIER looked at ‘dozens’ of engagement rings after Senator John F. Kennedy proposed in 1953, eventually choosing one featuring a 2.84-carat emerald and a 2.88-carat diamond, from New York jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels. Jackie rarely wore the ring or, when she did, covered it up with a glove, suggesting she thought it too flamboyant. In 1961, she had it redesigned, commissioning a wreath of marquise-cut diamonds around the two central stones. Afterwards, she wore the ring more regularly, including during an outing with her husband on November 22, 1963 . . . when he was shot dead as she sat beside him in the presidential motorcade through Dallas, Texas.
DOOMED LOVE OF CHILD STAR
DURING a tempestuous relationship, Russian billionaire Egor Tarabasov gave Parent Trap actress Lindsay Lohan a £225,000 cushion-cut emerald engagement ring.
The pair — who had dated for nine months — separated in August 2016 after disturbing photographs showed the Russian playboy apparently assaulting Lindsay, now 33, on a Greek beach. She continued to wear the ring for several months afterwards, with friends describing it as her ‘severance package’.
CARTIER’S FINEST FOR ‘THAT WOMAN’
REBELLIOUS by reputation, it was perhaps no surprise the Duke of Windsor proposed to U.S. divorcee Wallis Simpson in October 1936 with an emerald ring. Commissioned from French jeweller Cartier, the dazzling ring featured a 19.77-carat green stone flanked by diamonds, and was engraved with the message: ‘We are ours now.’ Their love lasted — in fact, Wallis had the ring remounted to celebrate their 20th anniversary in 1956.
NOT all emerald engagement rings have spelled bad luck for their wearers, however, or their marriages.
Queen Victoria, who was happily married to Prince albert for 21 years until his death, wore an unusual emerald serpent ring, while the Queen’s grandmother, Princess Mary of Teck, had a square-cut emerald ring to mark her marriage to Viscount Lascelles in 1922.
Victoria Beckham has not one but 14 engagement rings, all gifted by besotted husband David during their 20-year marriage. Her seventh is a cushion-cut emerald inside a spiral of diamonds, first spotted in 2007 and twice again at the Oscars in 2009 and 2012.
guardians Of The galaxy actress Zoe saldana is another emerald-lover, sporting a pear-shaped green stone on her ring finger after secretly marrying her italian artist boyfriend Marco Perego in 2013. The couple now have three sons, including twins, together.