Meghan Markle bought her daughter Princess Lilibet this stunning gift years before she even met Prince Harry and it’s message is seriously sweet

When Meghan Markle 'splurged' and bought herself a £5,000 watch years before meeting her future husband Prince Harry, she already had plans to gift the stunning jewellery to her daughter Princess Lilibet.

The royal family have a huge collection of heirloom jewellery that has been passed down by royal women, from Prince William using his late mother's engagement ring to propose to Kate Middleton ahead of their 2011 wedding, to Queen Consort Camilla wearing Queen Mary's Crown for King Charles' coronation earlier this year. 

Princess Charlotte is set to inherit many of Kate Middleton's magnificent jewels and, while she is largely removed from the Royal Family and the many protocols it enforced, though her brother Prince Archie is not, Princess Lilibet is in line to inherit a host of sentimental gifts from her mum Meghan Markle and late grandmother Princess Diana.

But Meghan had a certain piece of jewellery in mind for Lilibet to one day get her hands on years before she even met her future husband Prince Harry, when her future life as a royal was never even a possibility in her mind. 

When Meghan learned that the popular TV show Suits, in which she played Rachel Zane, had been renewed for it's third season, she 'splurged' on a special gift for herself to mark her success. The present? A luxurious £5,000 Cartier Tank Francaise watch.

"I've always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch," OK! Magazine reports she said of the self-gifted present in 2015. "When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season which, at the time, felt like such a milestone I totally splurged and bought the two-tone version."

She personalised the watch with a sweet and powerful message to remind herself of all the hard work she had put in to get herself into this successful career. The engraving on the back of the timepiece read, 'To M.M. From M.M'

The future royal then added, "I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That's what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them."

Meghan couldn't have known it then, but she would soon become the proud owner of an even more precious Cartier French Tank watch. That's because, upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018, Meghan inherited Princess Diana's own Cartier Tank Francaise watch which was gifted to the late royal on her 21st birthday by her father. 

Meghan owns many of Princess Diana's other jewellery pieces and has been spotted in some of them throughout her life as a royal. The most notable include the late royal's Emerald cut aquamarine ring that's surrounded by diamonds and set in 24-carat yellow gold, Diana's Cartier tennis bracelet, which is worth around £17,000, and also a pair of her butterfly earrings.

Kate Middleton has also been seen in many of her mother-in-law's jewellery items, often sporting them for big royal events where they take centre stage. Last year, she was seen wearing the Lover's Knot Tiara which was a favourite piece of Diana's. While the piece is beautiful and clearly a favourite among royal women, fashion coach and celebrity stylist Miranda Holder revealed on TikTok, "Apparently because it was so heavy, [Diana] used to get terrible headaches from wearing it."

Kate also wore a pair of Diana's dazzling sapphire and diamond drop earrings for the Jubilee Celebrations in 2022 which are just one of the sentimental pieces in the Princess' jewellery collection that has an estimated worth of £1.7 million!