William and His Cocker Spaniel Orla
The World’s Most Important Sapphire Diamond Ring
We were spending a week on the Isle of Wight in southern England. On our first day, we had a stay in Godshill, a charming little English village preserved to impress visiting tourists. Susie wanted a nap because she was still acclimating to our new time zone. I was curious to try English tea because it was such an historic thing with the residents of England. I thought I’d try The Old World Tea Room it sounded like they would do a good job with tea.
It was a Tuesday at 4. The tea room was half a mile away from where we were staying, or in English measurements, it was .8 kilometers. I thought about sitting inside but saw they had outside seating, and the yard was empty except for a young man and his dog. I chose a seat next to where he was sitting in case I had questions about English tea. When I sat down, the young man said hello, his dog was otherwise occupied chowing down on what looked like a bowl of ice cream. The waitress came by. She curtsied, then took my order. She bowed, then asked the young man at the table beside me if there was anything else. He asked for a second cup of tea.
The Old World Tea Room
I was impressed with the pomp and circumstance surrounding a cup of tea. I thought no wonder the English take tea so seriously. I asked the young man if he came here often.
“Only once a year, my dog likes the ice cream,” he said.
“I was impressed that they had a menu for dogs”.
“That’s why I come.”
“I’ve never had a true cup of English tea,” I admitted to him. “Is it any good?”
“I think the tea room does an outstanding job with ice cream for dogs, and they serve a pretty good cup of tea,” he said.
“What’s your dog’s name?” I asked.
“Her name is Orla; it’s Welsh for ‘Golden Princess’.”
“Wow, that’s a high-class name for a dog.”
“Thank you.”
“What do you do in England?”
“I’m in public relations for a branch of the government.”
“Your country is so interesting; just ordering tea, the curtsy, and bow is an amazing cultural difference.”
“I can tell from your accent that you must be from America.”
“Yes, we’re here for a week. Susie is back at the inn resting, acclimating to the time change.”
“My brother recently moved to America,” he said.
“Oh really, what does he do?”
“He’s still trying to figure that out.”
“It must be nice to be positioned to be able to sort things out over time.”
“It is.”
“What’s your name?” I asked my new friend.
“William, and yours?”
“I’m Ralph.”
“How did you get in here, Ralph?”
“I walked from our inn through the field. It looked like the most direct path.”
“Oh, that makes sense. If you’d come through the front, it was cordoned off.”
“Why?” I asked.
He replied, “They were expecting a special guest.”
“Who?”
“Orla.”
“Your cocker spaniel, for ice cream?”
“Yes, I’m William, Prince of Wales. Orla is my dog. They do stuff like this for us.”
“So you’re going to be king of England someday?” I asked.
“That’s the plan. You didn’t recognize me, that’s refreshing. I’ve enjoyed this slice-of-life conversation,” Wiliam said.
I mused, “So that’s why the waitress bowed and curtsied.”
The American Will and Kate Ring
The ring is called ‘Will and Kate’. It has an oval blue sapphire center surrounded by 14 diamonds, just like Kate’s ring. Kate’s ring is much larger. William had his mom’s sapphire polished, then he had the diamonds reset. Families often do that for sentimental reasons and finances.
Our design department studied the royal ring and made our version with one minor difference in detail. Kate’s ring has a single prong on the center outside edge of each diamond, referred to as a star prong. On our American rings, we protect the outside prong by recessing it between the diamonds. It’s a safer design because outside prongs are not in the way to catch, snag, or break. The recess creates a smoother, cleaner American edge. Our ring is safer and far less likely to need to be brought to a jeweler’s shop needing repair. I never mentioned that our ring was designed better than his. We’d made these rings several years before I met William.
Why We Love This Ring
We’ve made many thousands of rings over our 100-year history. Fourteen diamonds surrounding the center gem is royal jeweler genius. Not too big, not too small, the diamonds frame the center perfectly. We give great credit to the royal jewelers for the number fourteen. It looks great. Our American addition of tucking the single outside prong between the two diamonds is safer and looks better.
The Story About William and His Dog
Only Susie Could Tell You If This Story Is Real…
…and that I really did have a cup of English tea. The Isle of Wight, the village of Godshill and The Old World Tea Room are real. William and Orla are real. The tea room really does have ice cream for dogs. My tea with Prince William and Orla was a nice way to spend an afternoon in England. The sapphire ring made by Cross is real and is truly exceptional.
Why a Cross Sapphire is the Best
We love blue. We know blue. We live by the blue sea, beneath summer blue skies. Our business is located on a peninsula called Portland, surrounded by saltwater on three sides. We can feel the blue ocean pulsing with every tide. From the rooftop of our building, we can see the open sea. Binoculars show ships coming and going on a blue, blue sea.
We love blue sapphire: It is bright, brilliant, and amazingly durable. As the second hardest gem to diamond, it is a highly wearable gem, ideal for rings. We love blue sapphire…we love it so much that we have traveled to southeast Asia to find first-choice colors. We choose a lighter, brighter blue than most American jewelers because it shows up best under a wide range of real-world lighting conditions. Our blue sapphires look and perform best on everything from sunny days to a candlelit dinner for two.
We want your blue sapphire to dazzle you, to dazzle your partner
