A Perthshire jewellery designer has named her new £27 earrings after Kate Middleton to thank the princess for wearing a pair from her brand.
Statement earring brand Ear Sass was launched by Sophie McGown in 2020.
The business has since continued to grow, with Sophie winning fashion jeweller of the year at the Scottish Fashion Association Awards last February.
The Catherine earring was announced on Monday to thank the princess for wearing the brand’s charity earring Issy Star.
A post advertising the launch attracted more than 180,000 views on Twitter/X.
The Catherine, available as gold or silver-plated, proved an immediate hit and sold out in under two hours, with royal fans as far as America snapping up a pair.
The Princess of Wales donned the star-shaped Issy Star earring – which was created in memory of Sophie’s cousin Issy Phipps – twice last year.
Issy took her own life last April at the age of 17. After Kate was spotted wearing the earrings sales continued to soar.
Earring named after Kate Middleton
Last month, fundraising for charity Brave Mind exceeded £10,000. For every sale of The Catherine £5 is donated to the cause.
Sophie said: “We are eternally grateful to the Princess of Wales for wearing our Issy Star earrings, in memory of my beautiful cousin, Issy.
“Designing Princess Catherine’s very own pair of earrings felt like the perfect way for us to say thank you and show our appreciation for the thousands of pounds she has helped us to raise for mental health charity, Brave Mind.”
In June last year, Kate participated in team training at Maidenhead Rugby Club as part of her Shaping Us initiative.
There she met Issy’s mum, Sarah Renton, who shared that the earring was designed in memory of her daughter, who had played for the club since she was four before going on to play for England’s Under-18s touch rugby team.
Kate was then spotted wearing the earring in October, once on World Mental Health Awareness Day and again with SportsAid while taking part in a mental health awareness workshop.
Sophie added: “We’ve created this elegant hoop design which we can picture her wearing with the most stunning ball gown or with one of her statement blazers.
“We think it suits her whole style. We’re wishing the princess well as she continues her recovery and we’ve sent her a pair of the earrings, which we hope she loves as much as we do!”
The Catherine is available to pre-order for £27, with an estimated delivery time of four weeks.
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