By Madhurima Haque|
Prince Harry has rubbished claims that he sacrificed his mother's sapphire engagement ring to give to his older brother Prince William when he proposed to Kate Middleton in 2010.
It has long been considered a touching tale of two brothers, with Harry supposedly giving up Princess Diana's iconic sapphire engagement ring to William, which he had allegedly originally inherited, with a sincere wish for it to be seen on the throne of England someday.
But Prince Harry has denied ever laying claim to it in the first place. A passage in his memoir, Spare, describes what happened after the Palace had announced Prince William was going to marry, a fact that William had not even made Harry aware of, despite the two having spent time together overseas just prior to the announcement.
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"The papers published florid stories about the moment I realised Willy and Kate were well matched, the moment I appreciated the depth of their love and thus decided to gift Willy the ring I'd inherited from Mummy, the legendary sapphire, a tender moment between brothers, a bonding moment for all three of us, and absolute rubbish: none of it ever happened," Harry clarified in the extract.
"I never gave Willy the ring because it wasn't mine to give. He already had it. He'd asked for it after Mummy died, and I'd been more than happy to let it go."
This differs from previous claims, especially from Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell, who said that Harry had specifically chosen to keep the ring when his mother's estate was being divided soon after her death.
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Speaking in the Amazon documentary, The Diana Story, the former butler described exactly how and what the two Princes picked from their late mother's jewellery collection.
Watch the video above.
Burrell said that when William and Harry came to Kensington Palace shortly after their mother died, he insisted that they each take something from her safe.
He says while William took his mother's Cartier watch, which she received from her father on her 21st birthday, Harry asked for his mother's engagement ring, even speaking about a specific memory he had of the sapphire and diamond jewel.
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"When I held Mummy's hand when I was a small boy, that ring always hurt me, because it was so big," Burrell recalled what Harry supposedly said.
Burrell also said that when it came time for William to propose to Catherine, "Harry said to him [William]: 'Wouldn't it be fitting if she had mummy's ring?'
"Then one day that ring will be sat on the throne of England. Harry gave up his precious treasure.
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"His one thing he kept from his mother, he gave to his brother. That's selfless, kind and exactly who Diana was."
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