Gold finger ring with pierced hoop chased with flowers, set with a cabochon opal surrounded by nine pearls.

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, gave this ring to her niece Queen Victoria in 1849. The Duchess had been in constant attendance during Queen Charlotte's final illness at Kew in 1818 and it was perhaps during this difficult period that she was given this ring and others. The Duchess wrote that she had 'witnessed sufferings I can never describe, and I trust, we shall never forget, the Example she gave us of fortitude, & mildness, & every virtue, always trying to keep from us her anguish, & putting on a cheerful face when we came into her room, & receiving any little care & attention with pleasure'. The ring may, alternatively, have passed into the collection of Princess Sophia, and thence to Princess Mary, who had presented certain items from her sister's estate to Queen Victoria in 1848.

Catalogue entry adapted from George III & Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste, London, 2004