With This Ring

This week saw the engagement announcement of our president Toomas Hendrik Ilves. His chosen one is the exotic Latvian Ieva Kupce who has worn a stylish engagement ring since November. Stellarium will travel in time in today's story and have a look at famous engagement rings in recent history in the light of the president's engagement.

Jacqueline Bouvier and JFK 

The future president of the United States, John F. Kennedy was a man who didn't want to rush with marriage. There were so many women in the world - why get married straight away. In 1951 he met Jacqueline Bouvier and soon they were a radiant couple. But what didn't come was a proposal to get married. When Jackie who was working as a journalist at the time went to England in 1953 to cover the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the otherwise fun-loving John F. Kennedy got worried - could someone snatch Jackie in England? So the man bought a ring from Van Cleef & Arpels, decorated with a large emerald and diamonds. After getting engaged, John admitted to Jackie that he had known for a year that they will get married. The woman replied with a snap: "How nice of you!"

Grace Kelly and prince  Rainier  

When Monaco's prince Rainier flew to America in 1956 to propose to the movie star Grace Kelly, he had a very special ring with him. A ring of simple design was decorated with colours of Monaco - small rubies and diamonds. When the couple had got engaged and the ring was presented to the media, the prince soon got shocked. Namely the groom discovered that move stars in America wore diamond rings with bold stones. His engagement ring was a poor man's jewel compared to that. So Grace Kelly got another engagement ring. The nervous Rainier rushed to Paris and bought a ring with a large diamond from Cartier. That was a hit. Grace was so fond of her engagement ring that she also wore it during the shooting of her last film High Society. If Grace Kelly's ring went on auction today, the price could climb to 4,6 million dollars.

Marilyn Monroe & Joe DiMaggio  

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were the dream couple for the world. DiMaggio gave Monroe a wonderfully simple ring with 36 cut diamonds. Two years after their romance started, the sex symbol and baseball player decided to get married in secret. They only invited six people to the registration, but the news got out, and around a hundred photographers turned up. A strange facet: Marilyn Monroe lived exactly as many years she had in her engagement ring - the woman died at the age of 36. The reason for her death was marked as suicide. "In the end, everyone will betray me," (siia oleks täpset tsitaati vaja kui tsitaadina kasutada) Marilyn Monroe said in an interview. That could be true, but with one exception. Her ex husband Joe DiMaggio was the one who organised her funeral in 1962, didn't publish a single book of memories on her, never gave comments to the media, and made sure that every week Marilyn's grave would have fresh flowers. 

Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII  

On December 10th 1936, King Edward VIII held a famous speech in which he gave up the throne. The femme fatale who took the king from England was the American Wallis Simpson. Already when she was the king's mistres, she often got precious jewels as presents. When Edward VIII gave up his throne, he was more than sure that his wife-to-be Wallis would suffer the most from it. That's why he often sent the woman jewels that each had a message engraved in them. Two months before stepping down, Edward and Wallis got engaged. Their engagement day was October 27th 1936. Wallis's ring had one of the biggest emeralds in the world. The ring had "We are ours now 27 X 36" engraved in it. 27 stood for the date when Wallis got officially divorced from his first husband, and 36 stood for the year 1936. The Cartier ring cost 10 000 pounds. After the death of Wallis Simpson, all her jewellery went on auction. Her engagement ring was bought by a Japanese businessman who paid 1,8 million pounds for it.

Sel nädalal sai teatavaks, et meie president Toomas Hendrik Ilves on kihlunud oma lätlannast kallima Ieva Kupcega. Stellarium heidab tänases loos pilgu minevikku: millised kihlasõrmused on nõnda legendaarsed, et nendest räägitakse veel tänagi? Vaata fotosid! Kelle sõrmus on sinu meelest kauneim? 

Jacqueline Bouvier ja John F. Kennedy 

Ameerika tulevane president John F. Kennedy oli mees, kes ei soovinud abieluga kiirustada. Maailmas oli ju veel nii palju naisi, miks kohe abielluda? Aastal 1951 kohtus ta Jacqueline Bouvieriga ja peagi sai nendest särav paar. Mida ei tulnud ega tulnud, oli abieluettepanek. Kaks aastat hiljem otsustas JFK naise kosida ja ostis talle Van Cleef & Arpelsi kihlasõrmuse, mida kaunistas suur smaragd ja teemandid. Pärast kihlumist tunnistas John Jackiele, et ta oli juba tervelt aasta aega teadnud, et nad abielluvad. Jackie nähvas seepeale: "Kui kena sinust!" Paraku otsutas Jackie sõrmuse hiljem ümber disainida. Täna on seda nähtud tema tütre Caroline`i sõrmes.

Grace Kelly ja vürst Rainier  

Kui Monaco vürst Rainier lendas aastal 1956 Ameerikasse, et kosida filmistaar Grace Kelly, oli tal kaasas väga eriline sõrmus. Lihtsa disainiga sõrmust ehtisid Monaco värvid - väikesed rubiinid ja teemandid. Kui paar oli kihlunud ja sõrmust ajakirjanduses esitlenud, sai vürst peagi šoki. Nimelt avastas peigmees, et Ameerikas olid filmistaaridel sõrmes uhkete kividega teemantsõrmused. Tema kihlasõrmus oli justkui vaese mehe ostetud juveel. Nii sai Grace Kelly veel teisegi kihlasõrmuse. Närviline vürst Rainier kiirustas Pariisi ja ostis naisele Cartier`i poest suure teemandiga sõrmuse. Sel korral pani vürst täppi. Grace kiindus oma kihlasõrmusesse sedavõrd, et kandis seda ka oma viimase filmi "High Society" võtetel. 

Marilyn Monroe ja Joe DiMaggio

Marilyn Monroe ja Joe DiMaggio olid maailma jaoks unistustepaar. DiMaggio kinkis Monroele võrratult lihtsa sõrmuse, kus oli 36 väikest lõigatud teemantit. Kaks aastat pärast romanssi, otsustasid seksisümbol ja pesapallur salaja abielluda. 1954aasta jaanuaris kutsusid nad oma registreerimisele kõigest kuus inimest, kuid uudis lekkis meediasse ja kohale tuli sadakond fotograafi. Õnn ei kestnud. Paar oli abielus kõigest 274 päeva. Nad lahutasid juba sama aasta oktoobris. Kui Marilyn 36aastaselt enesetapu sooritas, korraldas DiMaggio tema matused ja saatis nädalas mitu korda oma eksabikaasa hauale roose. Aasta 1999 müüdi Marilyn Monroele kuulunud sõrmus oksjonil ära hinnaga 772,500 dollarit.

Wallis Simpson ja Edward VIII  

10. detsembril aastal 1936 pidas kuningas Edward VIII kuulsa kõne, kus ta loobus troonist. Saatuslik naine, kes võttis Inglismaalt kuninga, oli ameeriklanna Wallis Simpson. Juba sel ajal, kui Wallis oli kuninga armuke, sai ta sageli kingituseks hinnalisi juveele. Kui Edward VIII troonist loobus, oli ta enam kui kindel, et selles loos kannatab kõige rohkem tema tulevane abikaasa Wallis. Seepärast saatis ta naisele sageli juveele, kus igal graveeringul on oma sõnum. Kaks kuud enne troonist loobumist palus Edward Wallise naiseks. Nende kihlumispäevaks sai 27.oktoober 1936. Wallise sõrmusel ilutses maailma üks suurimaid smaragde. Sõrmusele oli graveeritud "We are ours now 27 X 36". 27 tähendas kuupäeva, millal Wallis sai oma eelmiselt abikaasalt ametlikult lahutatud ja 36 tähendas aastat 1936. Cartier` sõrmus maksis 10 000 naela. Pärast Wallis Simpsoni surma läksid kõik tema ehted oksjonile. Tema sõrmus müüdi 1.8 miljoni naelaga.