On Christmas Eve in 1966, Elvis proposed to Priscilla. The ring he gave her was a stunner, built around a three and a half carat diamond and made by a Memphis jeweler. By one account, Elvis had his own secretary write the check for it, for nearly four thousand dollars.
It was exactly the sort of grand gesture you would expect from him. But the ring had a little trick to it that most people never noticed.
Elvis and Priscilla’s 1967 wedding
Set around that big central diamond were about twenty smaller ones. And those smaller diamonds could be detached. Taken off, the ring became a different piece entirely, which meant Priscilla could wear it in two completely different ways.
One ring, with a second ring hidden inside it. A bold version for a big night and a quieter version for everyday, all from the same piece Elvis slipped onto her finger that Christmas Eve.
Priscilla on her life with Elvis
Priscilla has said, all these years later, that she still has the ring. Nearly sixty years on from that Christmas Eve, it’s still hers.
Elvis gave a lot of extravagant gifts in his life. Few of them were as clever, or as lasting, as the engagement ring that was secretly two rings at once.