Every time we hear some good news from Prince William and Prince Harry, we can't help but be saddened that their beloved mother, Princess Diana, is not around to witness just how happy her sons are.
This sentiment came flooding back when Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement last December. We felt it again when they tied the knot in May, and again when they revealed that they are expecting their first child.
However, fans of the couple and the late Diana have found comfort in the fact that Meghan and Harry have taken it upon themselves to honor the People's Princess whenever possible.
Not only does Meghan's down-to-earth demeanor, interest in humanitarian causes, and impeccable style remind us of Diana, she has gone out of her way on numerous occasions to pay homage to her late mother-in-law.
"[Diana and Meghan] would have been thick as thieves without question," Harry said in a BBC interview. "I think she would have been over the moon, so excited for me, [and] best friends with Meghan."
Here are five times Diana's Meghan honored Princess Diana:
1. The engagement ring
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made sure that Diana's memory was honored during every stage of their relationship, including their engagement.
Harry proposed to Meghan with a custom 18 carat yellow gold ring he designed with the help of Cleave and Company.
It features a diamond from Botswana, where the couple had their first vacation, and two more from one of his mother's favorite brooches.
"It's so important to me to know that she's a part of this with us...It's incredibly special," Meghan said in their engagement interview with the BBC. "And you know to be able to have this [the ring] which sort of links where you [Harry] come from and Botswana, it's perfect."
2. Wedding flowers
In addition to the flowers hand-picked by Prince Harry from their private garden at Kensington Palace, Meghan's bridal bouquet included scented sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine and astrantia, sprigs of myrtle, and Forget-Me-Nots, which were Diana's favorite blooms.
"The couple specifically chose them [Forget-Me-Nots] to be included in Ms. Markle's bouquet to honour the memory of the late Princess on this special day," according to the royals' website.
Florist Philippa Craddock was also instructed to create a special arrangement of flowers at St. George's Chapel featuring more of Diana's favorites, including white garden roses.
3. Aquamarine ring
Like Prince William did for Kate Middleton, Harry also gave his wife some special pieces from Princess Diana's jewelry box.
One of them is a stunning aquamarine ring given to Diana in 1996 by her friend good friend Lucia Flecha de Lima, the wife of the former ambassador of Brazil to the U.K.
She wore it in place of her wedding ring after her divorce from Prince Charles that same year.
After decades in hiding, the emerald-cut ring was first spotted on Meghan's finger as she and her new husband made their way to evening portion of their wedding reception last May.
She wore it again last week while attending a reception in Tonga during her first royal tour as duchess.
4. Butterfly earrings
The big, blue ring wasn't the only bling Meghan wore on the royal tour as a nod to Diana.
On the first day of their tour in Sydney, the newest royal was photographed wearing a pair of butterfly earrings previously worn by the Princess of Wales during a trip to Canada in 1986, a year and a half after Harry was born.
She paired the earrings with one of Diana's gold accessories. According to royal watchers, Meghan wore the same gold bracelet that Harry's mother donned in 1990 while visiting the Lord Gage Center for Old People in London.
5. A special beret
For the 2018 Commonwealth Day service, which is the largest annual inter-faith gathering in the United Kingdom, Meghan took a page from Princess Diana's iconic style book.
While Kate opted for a wide-brimmed hat, the former actress wore a white beret created by Stephen Jones, who has been credited for designing a variety of the French hat for Diana.
"She [Diana] knew [wearing hats] was part of being royal," Jones said in an interview with The Daily Mail last year. "She understood from the Queen and the Queen Mother that it was part of the responsibility "” to be identifiable. It was a symbol of royalty, to set you apart."
