Men wearing engagement rings are a growing band
They’re not just for women, says pop star Sheeran, as he shows off silver symbol of commitment to fiancée
IT IS a subject that is said to divide men: to wear or not to wear a wedding ring?
Thanks to Ed Sheeran, another dilemma could soon be looming. Britain’s biggest-selling pop star has chosen to wear an engagement ring, saying he does not understand why they are the preserve of women.
Sheeran, 27, who announced his engagement to Cherry Seaborn, his childhood sweetheart, last month, showed off the band on the red carpet at the Brit Awards on Wednesday night.
He explained: “I never saw why men didn’t wear engagement rings, because it’s the same commitment either way.
“Cherry made it for me herself out of silver clay and I really like it.”
With 20million followers on social media, Sheeran is an influential figure. Whether he can persuade men to follow his lead and wear an engagement ring remains to be seen. Most men wear wedding bands, but for some they remain beyond the pale. The Duke of Cambridge does not have one because he does not like wearing jewellery, Kensington Palace sources said. Prince Harry is expected to follow suit when he marries Meghan Markle later this year. The Prince of Wales wears no wedding ring but does wear a signet ring on his left hand.
Engagement rings date back to ancient times and traditionally they were a sign that a woman was ‘taken’ but also represented a financial transaction.
Until the Thirties in the US, a woman could sue if her fiancé broke off the engagement.
Unlikely to marry again because she was seen as damaged goods, the jilted fiancée could keep the ring as compensation.
With a huge following on social media, Sheeran is an influential figure. But while he might push the trend for men’s engagement rings, he has not started it. Michael Buble sported one in 2010 before marrying Luisana Lopilato, his Argentinian fiancée. “The boy also wears the engagement ring [in Argentina]. That’s what she tells me,” he said at the time.
H. Samuel and Beaverbrooks, the high street jewellers, offer a selection of men’s engagement rings. At the more luxury end of the market, De Beers, the diamond specialist, has unisex diamond “promise rings”. When Sheeran was first seen wearing the ring earlier in the week, fans wondered if he had secretly wed. He said that was not the case, but added that if he does marry it will be a private affair: “It will be a situation no one knows.”
He announce his engagement on social media, saying: “Got myself a fiancé [sic] just before new year. We are very happy and in love, and our cats are chuffed as well.” The pair met at school
‘Cherry made it for me herself out of silver clay and I really like it’
in Framlington, Suffolk, when Sheeran had a “crush” on Ms Seaborn. They stayed in touch and became romantically involved in 2015, when they were in the US at the same time.
His song, Perfect, was written about her. Ms Seaborn, a consultant with Deloitte, accompanied Sheeran to the Brit Awards, where he received the Global Success Award as the biggest-selling UK artist abroad.