Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring Collection is One For The History Books
Learn all about Elizabeth Taylor’s dazzling diamond engagement rings from her 10 engagements and 8 marriages.
Elizabeth Taylor’s engagement ring collection only rivals that of her expansive and impressive career. The Academy Award-winning actress has been engaged 10 times, married eight (twice to the same person), divorced on seven occasions, and widowed once. While she had swaths of different suitors, proposing her hand in marriage, Taylor credits her third husband, Mike Todd, and her fifth, Richard Burton as the greatest loves of her life. She once said, “I’ve been astonishingly lucky with love. I’ve had two great loves in my life.” Here, see Elizabeth Taylor’s dazzling diamond engagement ring collection.
1. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From William Pawley Jr.
At 17, Elizabeth Taylor kicked off her legendary jewelry collection (and engagement ring collection) with her first engagement ring. William Pawley Jr, the son of U.S. Ambassador William D. Pawley, proposed to the actress in 1949, with a cushion-cut diamond engagement ring. However, the couple never made it down the aisle.
2. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From Conrad Hilton Jr.
Heir to the famous hotel establishment, Conrad “Nicky” Hilton Jr. (Paris Hilton’s great-uncle) proposed to Taylor with a four-carat platinum-set diamond engagement ring that was reportedly worth $10,000. The couple tied the knot when Taylor was 18 years old on May 6, 1950, in an MGM-funded wedding at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Drawing in huge crowds of paparazzi and adoring fans outside of the church, Gaumont British News dubbed the occasion, “Hollywood’s Wedding of the Year.” The pair divorced eight months later.
3. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From Michael Wilding
Elizabeth Taylor’s engagement ring from British actor Michael Wilding included a large cabochon sapphire center stone surrounded by a halo of natural diamonds. At the time, the rumors suggested Liz may have bought the ring for herself rather than Michael purchasing it for her. The second marriage for both of them, the couple married in London’s Caxton Hall in 1952.
While Wilding was 20 years her senior, Taylor told Life magazine in 1964, that she had married him for “the calm and quiet and security of friendship.” Taylor and Wilding went on to have two sons together, Michael and Christopher. Many believed the demise of the relationship was due to Taylor’s ever-rising career overshadowing his. The couple divorced in 1957 after five years of marriage.
4. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From Mike Todd
Film producer Mike Todd popped the question to 24-year-old Taylor and presented her with a massive emerald-cut engagement ring. Because the actress was still married to her second husband, Michael Wilding at the time, Taylor told the press that it was not an engagement ring, but a 29-carat “friendship ring.”
“When Mike bought me my engagement ring, he said it was 29 and 7/8th carats because 30 would have been vulgar,” Taylor told the press. “I call it my ice skating rink.” The third marriage for both of Taylor and Todd, the couple tied the knot in Mexico on February 2, 1957, weeks after she finalized her divorce.
Sadly, Todd passed away on March 22, 1958, in a plane crash in New Mexico. He was on his way to receive the “Showman of the Year” award in New York City when the aircraft went down. Taylor had plans to fly with her husband but decided to stay home at the last minute due to a cold. Their daughter, Liza, was only seven months old. After his death, Taylor continued to wear her engagement ring years, along with many other diamond jewels he had gifted her throughout their love affair.
In her 2002 book, My Love Affair with Jewelry, the Hollywood icon wrote, “Mike Todd and I only had thirteen months together, but I now see that Mike’s love was a legacy to me. Mike was amazing: so loving and so unbelievably larger than life.”
5. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Bracelet From Eddie Fisher
Still heartbroken from the death of Mike Todd, Elizabeth Taylor married her late husband’s close friend, crooner Eddie Fisher on May 12, 1959. Fisher was previously married to Taylor’s childhood friend, Debbie Reynolds, but divorced her to marry Taylor.
Since the actress continued to wear the ring given to her by Todd, Fisher proposed with a bracelet, made up of a row of 50 natural diamonds. Wearing the bracelet, she often paired it with jewelry given to her by Todd. Fisher and Taylor remained married until she began working on the set of Cleopatra in 1962, where she met Richard Burton…
6. Elizabeth Taylor’s Diamonds From Richard Burton
While her engagement rings from previous suitors all turned heads, it was Elizabeth Taylor’s diamond ring from Richard Burton that would demolish them all in comparison. Known as one of Hollywood’s greatest love affairs, Taylor and Burton’s decades-long romance began in 1962 when the actors met on the set of their film Cleopatra, and the rest was history. Natural diamond jewelry seemed to be the couple’s love language, with Burton often gifting Taylor the most exquisite diamonds.
While Burton was known for adding to Taylor’s jewelry collection, the most iconic has to be the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, previously known as the Krupp Diamond. Burton purchased the 33.19-carat Asscher-cut Type IIa diamond ring for Taylor in 1968.
While the couple married twice — once in 1964 and again in 1975, the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond is not a ring Burton technically proposed with. Yet, Taylor was said to have worn it nearly every day. It was sold at a Christie’s auction in December 2011 for $8.8 million, according to Forbes.
7. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From John Warner
Taylor married her seventh husband, Republican politician John Warner in 1976 after he proposed with an engagement ring including rubies, emeralds, and natural diamonds. The two tied the knot at Warner’s estate in Middleburg, Virginia. Once he was elected to the Senate, the Butterfield 8 actress grew tired of her role as a politician’s wife and the couple divorced in 1982.
8. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From Victor Luna
Elizabeth Taylor’s engagement ring from Mexican attorney Victor Luna featured a 16-carat sapphire surrounded by a halo of natural diamonds. Luna proposed to Taylor in 1983, but the couple called off the engagement and went their separate ways by August 1984. Insisting that the breakup had nothing to do with the death of Richard Burton earlier that month, Taylor’s publicist said at the time, “The couple remarked they will remain strong friends.”
9. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From Dennis Stein
Elizabeth Taylor and businessman Dennis Stein shared a fleeting two-month romance towards the end of 1984. Stein presented the actress with a sapphire and natural diamond engagement ring but by February 1985, the couple called it quits.
10. Elizabeth Taylor’s Engagement Ring From Larry Fortensky
Elizabeth Taylor met construction worker Larry Fortensky during a stint at the Betty Ford Center in 1988. He proposed to Taylor with the final engagement ring of her collection– a simple pavé diamond eternity band. The couple married at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in October 1991. The ceremony reportedly cost Taylor a whopping $2 million. The newlyweds sold their wedding photographs to People magazine for the price of $1 million and used the funds to start the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Fortensky and Taylor divorced five years later in 1996 but remained close until her death in 2011.
