FEBRUARY 11, 2005 - London --
For his first marriage, Prince Charles presented
Princess Diana with a blue sapphire engagement ring, but for his second
trip down the aisle, he is going with diamonds. The prince, who announced Thursday that he will wed
longtime companion Camilla Parker Bowles on April 8 at Windsor Castle,
presented his bride-to-be with a diamond engagement ring that is a
royal family heirloom. The ring features a square-cut diamond with three
diamond baguettes on either side, and is mounted within a platinum
band, reports the Associated Press (AP). Bowles wore the ring
on Thursday evening in the couple's first public appearance together
following the prince's announcement. The engagement ring Prince Charles gave his first
wife, the late Princess Diana, who died in 1997 car crash, was an
18-carat, oval blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds. A poll published in the Friday edition of London's Daily Telegraph
reports that 65 percent of Britons are in favor of the prince's
marriage to Bowles. Yet 41 percent of those polled would prefer that
Prince Charles' son William be England's next king, over the 37 percent
who would like to see Prince Charles succeed Queen Elizabeth II when
she steps down or dies, reports the AP.