This is officially the most popular royal engagement ring

(Image credit: Getty Images)

A little while ago we revealed just which royal wedding dress was the most popular of all, and surprisingly, Princess Diana's didn't even come close.

Now new research shows the most popular royal engagement rings of all time, and the results were pretty unexpected - or not, depending on where you stand.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, creative resource Design Bundles, analysed 25 of the most popular royal engagement rings to discover the most sought-after in the country.

These included the Queen Mother's solitaire, as well as the Queen's ring, Meghan Markle's, Princess Beatrice's and of course, Kate Middleton's ring.

The survey also quizzed people on the rings of European royals, including the Cartier sparkler belonging to Grace Kelly, said to be the most expensive royal ring.

And it turns out everyone's favourite is the Duchess of Cambridge’s 12-carat, oval blue sapphire with a halo of diamonds, which famously belonged to Princess Diana before her. Diana caused controversy at the time by choosing it from a catalogue rather than the extensive royal collection, and later re-designed it too.

The survey found that the ring pulled in 32,400 searches a month – over five times the searches of all royal rings on the list.

Meghan Markle’s engagement ring came in a close second, with 31,200 searches per year. The six-carat cushion-cut sparkler was of course designed by Prince Harry himself, with a central ethical diamond from Botswana flanked two smaller diamonds from Princess Diana’s own collection.

Rounding off the top 5 were Princess Margaret's, Grace Kelly's and Princess Beatrice's sparklers.

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.