EXCLUSIVE: Secrets of Queen Elizabeth's Engagement Ring Revealed — As Mystery Grows Over its Location

The ring, which features a three-carat round brilliant-cut diamond flanked by 10 smaller diamonds in a platinum setting, was designed personally by Philip and made by London jeweler Philip Antrobus Ltd.

The diamonds were taken from a tiara belonging to Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, later known as Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, who died aged 84 in 1969. The jewel became one of the most recognizable pieces associated with the late monarch, with royal experts saying she never removed it throughout her 73-year marriage.

The proposal itself came in the aftermath of World War II, when Britain was still adjusting to peacetime austerity. Philip had reportedly sought the permission of Elizabeth's father, King George VI, who died aged 56 in 1952, before formally announcing the engagement in July 1947. The young couple had known each other for years, but their relationship deepened during the war as Philip served as a naval officer.

Philip reflected on his feelings in a letter written in 1946, offering a rare glimpse into the emotional backdrop of their engagement. "To have been spared in the war and seen victory, to have been given the chance to rest and to readjust myself, to have fallen in love completely and unreservedly makes all one's personal and even the world's troubles seem small and petty," he wrote in 1946.

The ring itself carried layers of family history. The diamonds came from a tiara that had belonged to Philip's mother, a piece originally gifted to Princess Alice by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia when she married Prince Andrew of Greece in 1903. Philip dismantled the tiara to create Elizabeth's engagement ring and a matching bracelet, later known as the Edinburgh wedding bracelet.

Beyond the engagement ring, Philip also commissioned Elizabeth's wedding band using Welsh gold supplied by the people of Wales. Ingrid Seward revealed in her book Prince Philip: A Portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh that Philip secretly added a private inscription inside the band - one that, she wrote, only three people ever knew: Philip, Elizabeth, and the engraver who made it.

Elizabeth and Philip married on November 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey in London. The wedding took place during a period of rationing in Britain, and Elizabeth famously used clothing coupons to pay for her gown in a gesture that reflected the austerity faced by the public after the war. The dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and completed in less than three months by around 350 seamstresses working in his atelier.