Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law Salomon Arpels founded Van Cleef & Arpels in 1896. Throughout its 120 year history, the jewelry and watchmaking house has distinguished itself within the industry by giving paramount importance to quality, detail, and craftsmanship.

Van Cleef & Arpels is one of the most prominent and desirable brands amongst the world’s elite. Their clientele includes royalty and some of history’s most famous celebrities. Here are some of Van Cleef & Arpels’ most iconic clients.

Elizabeth Taylor
Without a doubt, Elizabeth Taylor amassed one of the most impressive collections of jewelry ever assembled by a Hollywood movie star. Amongst the many brands in her legendary collection is one of the most elegant names in the firmament of high jewelry, Van Cleef & Arpels.

“One day I’m going to find you the most perfect ruby in the world,” was the romantic promise actor Richard Burton made Elizabeth Taylor. After a four years search, he found Van Cleef & Arpels’ Puertas Ruby ring that boasted a 8.25-carat ruby center stone, surrounded by diamonds and set in yellow gold. The actress, recalling the moment when she opened the ring box said, “I screamed, which probably echoed over the mountains, and I couldn’t stop screaming, I knew I was staring at the most exquisite ruby anyone had ever seen.”

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Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly was one of the most popular film actresses in the 1950s, giving up her illustrious career to become Princess of Monaco in 1956, after a three-week engagement to Prince Rainier.

As an early wedding gift, Prince Rainier presented Grace with a set of Van Cleef & Arpels pearl and diamond jewelry. The suite includes a three-strand pearl necklace, bracelet, pair of earrings, and a ring. Soon after, Van Cleef & Arpels became the “Official Supplier to the Principality of Monaco” and was charged with creating the stunning jewels Princess Kelly wore for official and private occasions, including a tiara made of round, marquise, and pear-shaped diamonds (weighing a total of 77.34 carats) that Princess Kelly donned at her daughter’s wedding in 1978.

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Marlene Dietrich
Actress Marlene Dietrich’s family owned a jewelry shop on Berlin’s most fashionable thoroughfare, Unter den Linden. Jewelry ran in her blood, and she was an avid collector.

Many of her jewels were made by special order from renowned jewelers including Paul Flato, Fulco di Verdura, Mauboussin and Van Cleef & Arpels. The most noteworthy, and most dramatic, of her jewels that appeared in one of her films also happened to be her favorite: a three-dimensional ruby and diamond Jarretière cuff bracelet made by Van Cleef & Arpels circa 1937.

According to Dietrich’s grandson, this striking cuff was made with “all her bits of jewelry” after the actress brought an odd assortment of more than 20 personal pieces of jewelry, including a ruby bracelet and necklace, a pair of diamond earrings, and a diamond necklace, and a handful of brooches into Van Cleef & Arpels. Dietrich’s jewelry was re-set into the stunning Jarretière cuff that exudes Old Hollywood glamour.

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Duchess of Windsor
Out of love for Wallis Simpson, King Edward VIII gave up his throne on December 10, 1936, after having reigned for only 11 months. Their marriage was condemned by the royal family because of Wallis’ divorcée status.

During their 35 years together, Edward VIII gave Wallis Simpson many necklaces, bracelets, brooches and earrings which he often purchased from Van Cleef & Arpels or Cartier.  Many of the items were custom designed and given as gifts to commemorate special occasions, often inscribed with personal messages from the Duke.

It is thought that the Duchess of Windsor inspired Van Cleef & Arpels to create a piece of high jewelry inspired by the humble zipper. An outstanding technical achievement, the Zip Necklace is dressed with yellow gold, diamonds, ribbons of rubies or emeralds, colored pearls, lapis lazuli, and sapphires which actually zips and unzips. It soon achieved iconic status and took artisans more than 10 years to perfect a fully functioning zipper. Even the simplest zip styles require at least 400 hours of labor, more elaborate versions requiring up to 1,200. An extremely limited number of these necklaces have ever been produced.

On the heels of the engagement of Prince Harry to American actress Meghan Markle via this spectacular ring, we figured it would be a perfect time to take a look at some other engagement rings worn by royals over the years. Long live the happy couple!

Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Since Ms. Markle is American, we thought it would be fun to start this list with another American to become a member of the British royal family: Wallis Simpson.

If you don’t know the story of Wallis and Prince Edward of Wales, you should. The two met in 1931 while she was married to Ernest Simpson and when Edward was the heir to the throne of England. They began an affair until the death of King George V in 1936, making Edward the King of England. After her divorce, Simpson was to marry King Edward but, due to opposition from the British government, the King had to abdicate his throne in order to marry the woman he loved, and the two became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It’s a romance story for the ages, and one that came with a spectacular ring.

Edward presented Wallis with a 19.77 carat emerald in a ring by Cartier just prior to his abdication of the throne, which the Duchess eventually had redesigned in 1958 to include diamonds in a yellow gold setting.

Princess Margaret

In sticking with the theme of colored stone engagement rings, the ring given to Princess Margaret—the sister of Queen Elizabeth II—by her then-future husband photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones was designed to resemble a budding rose (a reference to Margaret’s middle name) and contained a center ruby flanked with white diamonds in a circular pattern.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

It seems that rubies were all the rage with royals, and the engagement ring of Sarah Ferguson was no exception. Rumor has it that the redheaded, future (albeit short-lived) Duchess requested a Burmese ruby as her center stone in lieu of the emerald engagement ring originally selected for her. The ruby was set in a two-tone gold mounting with a halo of diamonds surrounding it, and she wore it alongside a gold Welsh wedding band, which is a tradition for many royals.

Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex

Now married to Edward, Earl of Wessex and the youngest of Queen Elizabeth’s four children, Sophie Rhys-Jones’s first steps into the British royal spotlight took the world’s breath away, mainly because of how much she resembled Diana, Princess of Wales. The ring then-Prince Edward gave to Sophie was created by Asprey and Garrard and contains a white oval diamond center stone with a heart (or trillion cut – there have been conflicting reports on this) diamond on either side of the center, with all three diamonds set into an 18K white gold mounting.

Diana, Princess of Wales (as well as Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge)

The image of the very famous sapphire and diamond ring once worn by Lady Diana Spencer and now Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, is probably embedded in all of our minds. The picture of a young, carefree Diana with her left hand over the shoulder of Prince Charles may likely be one of the most recognizable portraits of the 20^th century. When Prince William presented his future wife the ring that once belonged to a woman not just adored by his brother and him, but, seemingly, an entire world, a heartwarming feeling of nostalgia came over the planet and it was almost as if the hole left in our hearts could finally be healed.

The ring – originally made up of a 12-carat Ceylon sapphire surrounded by fourteen white round brilliant cut diamonds – was made in 18K gold by the jeweler Garrard and originally caused a bit of a stir throughout the kingdom because the ring wasn’t custom made for Diana, but rather one she chose (after the official engagement took place) out of the jeweler’s catalog, making it easy to replicate and not original to her. The style became extraordinarily popular in the 1980s and again when William and Kate tied the knot, and although the ring was originally given to Harry – not William – after Diana’s untimely death, Harry gave it to William when it come time for his proposal to Kate. If that’s not brotherly love, I don’t know what is!

Main image via Vogue Magazine.