• Conventionally, the woman’s engagement ring is presented to her as a betrothal gift by a man to be his prospective spouse.

• In North America, the UK, and South Africa, wedding and engagement rings are traditionally worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. This romantic custom stems from an Ancient Roman and Greek belief that a special vessel ran directly from this finger to the heart—later famously dubbed the Vena Amoris, or “Vein of Love.” While modern science shows that all our fingers share identical circulatory structures, the timeless sentiment endures!

• In Poland and Ukraine, it is customary for the wedding ring to be worn on the right-hand ring finger, while in Germany it is worn on the left hand while engaged, and moves to the right when married.

• In Brazil, Sweden and Germany, both men and women wear engagement rings.

• While betrothal rings have been exchanged since ancient times, the tradition of giving a diamond engagement ring was truly popularised in 1477. Archduke Maximilian I of Austria (who later became Holy Roman Emperor) commissioned the first recorded royal diamond engagement ring for his betrothed, Mary of Burgundy, setting a gold band with diamonds crafted in the shape of her initial, “M.”

• The smallest engagement ring on record was given to two-year-old Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, when she was betrothed to the infant Dauphin of France, son of King Francis I, in 1518.

• The word “diamond” originates from the Ancient Greek word adamas, which translates to “unbreakable,” “invincible,” or “untamed”—a fitting description for the world’s hardest natural gemstone and an everlasting emblem of enduring love.

• The word ‘betrothed’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘troweth’, meaning truth. Betrothed means ‘giving a truth or pledge’.

• The purpose of both a wedding and engagement ring is to promise eternal love, commitment and happiness. It is therefore a symbol of eternity between the giver and the recipient. A ring is, of course, a complete circle, with no end and no beginning – the perfect and most endearing symbol of such a promise.