As engagement rings go, this one is truly a whopper. Argentine-Spanish model, Georgina Rodriguez, took to Instagram on Monday night (11th August) to confirm that she and her footballer beau, Cristiano Ronaldo, are finally engaged.
“Sí, quiero. En esta y en todas mis vidas,” she wrote in the caption (“Yes I do. In this and in all my lives”), which appeared alongside a snapshot of a her hand with a huge oval-cut diamond engagement ring, thought to weigh around 20 carats.
The 31-year-old model and influencer and the footballing star, 40, have been together since they met in 2016 and have two daughters together. Rodriguez will now also be stepmother to Ronaldo’s other three children.
Until now, the model has been spotted wearing a different, albeit equally dramatic, diamond sparkler on her fourth finger – an emerald-cut solitaire – but it’s not thought to have been an engagement ring.
Brides Magazine was quick off the mark to estimate the cost of Rodriguez’s spectacular diamond. The American bridal title turned to ring expert Benjamin Khordipour of Estate Diamond Jewelry, who speculated: “To us, this looks like a 22-carat oval diamond, H color, VS1 clarity. The mounting is set in platinum and two ovals weighing two carats each. The price of this ring is $1,200,000.”
As one of the highest paid football players in the world – with a new two-year contract with Saudi Arabian team Al Nassr worth a minimum of £492 million (over $662 million), it makes sense that Ronaldo would be able to splash some serious cash on an engagement ring for his beloved.
“She’s the woman I am completely in love with,” Cristiano Ronaldo has said in a Netflix documentary on Rodriguez’s life, ‘I Am Georgina’, which chronicled the enormous changes that have occurred in her life since the pair began dating. “I don’t think I’m a phenomenon,” Rodriguez has also said, “but I do think I’m a lucky woman.”
According to Lisa Levinson, Head of UK at the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), oval rings are experiencing a bit of a comeback – they’ve certainly been the ring of choice for a growing number of celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Kourtney Kardashian, Hailey Bieber and Ariana Grande.
“Ovals are the new ‘rounds’ for the younger generation. We are seeing a huge uptick in demand for oval cut diamonds which reflects the desire to choose something different to their parents’ generations round brilliant diamond, yet the oval still appeals to our longing for the timeless rounded silhouette,” she says, adding, “A diamond this size is incredibly rare…Looking at all the diamonds that we recover that are larger than five carats in size, each year globally, when polished would be less in volume than a basketball.”
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