All About Princess Margaret’s Rose Bud Shaped Ruby Engagement Ring

Princess Margaret’s free spirit is memorialized in her unconventional engagement ring. The rarely photographed ruby and diamond piece, gifted to the late royal in 1960 by future husband Antony Armstrong-Jones, takes the shape of a flower.

Her granddaughter, Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones, told The Telegraph in November 2025 that the ring is “a Marguerite shape, a particular floral motif, and just so beautiful.” The 23-year-old jewelry designer inherited the ring on her 21st birthday, having never had the chance to meet her grandmother. (Margaret died in February 2002, while her granddaughter arrived in May 2002).

Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, welcomed two children with Antony before their 1978 divorce: son David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, and daughter Lady Sarah Chatto. Margarita is David’s daughter. 

Here’s everything to know about Princess Margaret’s engagement ring, her relationship with Antony, and the personal meaning behind her granddaughter’s choice to wear the heirloom.

Margaret reportedly ‘didn’t really want to marry at all’ before Antony proposed.

The exact details of the photographer’s proposal to Margaret are unclear, although BBC News reports that it happened in October 1959. The then Conservative MP, Jonathan Aitken, claimed that the princess shared the context behind her engagement with him. “I received a letter from Peter in the morning,” she is quoted to have said, “and that evening I decided to marry Tony.” 

Peter refers to Margaret’s ex-boyfriend, Peter Townsend, while the letter from him allegedly informed her of his intentions to marry someone else, according to Time. The former couple had broken up in 1955, as Margaret weighed losing her royal income and claim to the throne against marrying Townsend (a commoner and divorcé).

But back to her engagement to Antony. The princess is further quoted as having said, “I didn’t really want to marry at all. Why did I? Because he asked me! Really, though, he was such a nice person in those days. In a way he introduced me to a new world.”

They publicly announced their engagement in February 1960, offering the public a first glimpse at her new ring.

Her ruby engagement ring is shaped like a flower—and has a special tie to her name.

Few photographs exist of Princess Margaret’s engagement ring, but it’s confirmed to have a ruby at its center flanked by diamonds. It forms the shape of a rosebud in a romantic nod to the princess’s middle name, Rose, per People.

It wouldn’t be the first royal engagement ring to feature a colorful stone in lieu of a white diamond. Princess Diana received her now-iconic blue 12-carat sapphire ring from Prince Charles in 1981. Her son, Prince William, inherited the stunning sparkler and used it to propose to Kate Middleton. 

The Queen Mother also received a sapphire ring from Prince Albert in 1923, but swapped it out for a pearl sometime in the 1940s. Yet it’s Margaret’s great-niece, Princess Eugenie, who possesses the most similar engagement ring: a pink-orange sapphire surrounded by a halo of diamonds.

Her granddaughter wears the ring ‘to things I think she would want to be there for.’

Margaret’s granddaughter, Lady Margarita, received her engagement ring on her 21st birthday, per a November 2025 interview with The Telegraph. “The fact that it shares our name made it feel very magical,” the jewelry designer told the outlet—like the late princess, her middle name is Rose. 

Noting that she wore the ring to King Charles’s coronation in 2023, she explained, “It was [held at] the same church that Granny got married in,” Westminster Abbey. “I wear it to things I think she would want to be there for,” Margarita added.

In the same interview, Margaret’s granddaughter assessed the princess’s overall taste in jewelry. “[She] would happily buy jewellery on the beach and wear it to fabulous state occasions. She would always buy costume jewellery, which is interesting—that way she could be big and bold. She wasn’t precious. And she was definitely a big earring woman.”