Update (Wednesday, October 17 at 5 P.M.):
The speculation around Vanity Fair offices, plus multiple tips, point to a sleep-tracking ring that’s similar to a Fitbit. Maybe it was a small joke from Prince William, as in, “Really appreciate your sleep now, Harry, because these are the last months you’ll get it.” Or maybe Prince Harry bought it himself. Royals can’t accept non-official gifts, and even official ones are traditionally inexpensive, so maybe he’s just on a new marriage, new Harry health kick.
The original article continues below.
Kate Middleton wears a coat. Meghan Markle wears a blazer. Kate Middleton wears a tall boot. Meghan Markle wears a shift dress. It’s the type of story we see a thousand times a year, and yet we still click—especially when they’re on a royal tour, like Meghan is now, down there in Australia. We click and we click and we click—and somehow, it doesn’t feel so bad. So many things feel bad right now, and this—two royals with beautiful hair wearing clothes—doesn’t. Duchess outfits defy the law of diminishing returns.
But once in awhile, there’s a breach in their sartorial-attention monopoly, because there are, of course, the royal men. Sometimes I think Prince William owns only one sweater, a cobalt, V-neck one, but when confronted with the evidence, it became clear that he also has a navy V-neck and some button-downs. He wore a belt once. Meghan’s husband is pretty much the same. They’re a Sloane Ranger family, and have rarely veered from that zone.
Jewelry, though, is where Harry tends to express himself, and it tends to spark conversation, like, say, a Meghan wide-legged trouser might. Never forget the his-and-hers bracelets from Botswana that they wore before the engagement. He also wears a silver bracelet as a nod to his mother, the late Princess Diana.
And now he’s wearing a ring. A ring? A ring! “Of course he’s wearing a ring,” you might say. “They got married in May.” And you’re right! But now he’s wearing another ring on his right hand. “Mystery of Harry’s new bling: Duke of Sussex baffles fans by wearing a black ring on his RIGHT hand in Australia (so is it a gift from Meghan?)” reads the Daily Mail headline. So is it?
Harry wasn’t wearing it on Friday for his cousin Princess Eugenie’s wedding. And now he is wearing it this week at the start of his 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. The Daily Mail speculates that the ring is made of “dark metal such as titanium, tungsten, or black gold,” and royal watchers speculate that it’s either a baby gift from Meghan, or something to do with the imminent 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney.
