Meghan Markle accidentally owns the same iconic piece as Diana

For their third wedding anniversary, Prince William bought Kate Middleton a Cartier watch, which was a special nod to Princess Diana.

How so? Because his late mother owned used to own a Cartier Tank Francaise watch, which was a present from her father, John Spencer, and she wore it a lot in the months leading up to her death (perhaps to replace the one she was wearing in that famous two watches picture).

This was also said to be Prince William's favourite piece from her collection, and he inherited it upon her passing, while Prince Harry got her engagement ring, which he later gave his brother to propose to Kate with.

And speaking of Harry, completely coincidentally, Meghan Markle owned exactly the same Cartier Tank Francaise watch as Diana, even before she met the Prince.

kate meghan inherited diana

In fact, her Cartier watch was one of the first designer presents she ever bought herself (it coset £5,000), to celebrate the fact her show Suits had been picked up for another season.

She told Hello Magazine in 2015, 'I’ve always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season – which, at the time, felt like such a milestone – I totally splurged and bought the two tone version.'

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Meghan even had a special message added to it, 'I had it engraved on the back ‘To M.M. From M.M.’ and I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That’s what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them.'

Little did she know that the Cartier watch would have another special connection, to her late mother in law.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.