Ed Sheeran: why don't more men wear engagement rings?

Sheeran said men show 'the same commitment' to marriage so why not wear an engagement ring? Photo / Getty Images

It is a subject that divides men: to wear or not to wear a wedding ring?

Thanks to Ed Sheeran, another dilemma could soon be looming. The UK's biggest-selling pop star has chosen to wear an engagement ring, saying he does not understand why they are the preserve of women.

Sheeran, 27, who announced his engagement to childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn last month, showed off the band on the red carpet at the Brit Awards on Wednesday night, the Daily Telegraph reports.

He explained: "I never saw why men didn't wear engagement rings, because it's the same commitment either way.

"Cherry made it for me herself out of silver clay and I really like it."

With 20 million followers on social media, Sheeran is an influential figure. Whether he can persuade men to follow his lead and wear an engagement ring remains to be seen.

The majority of men do wear wedding bands, but for some they remain beyond the pale. The Duke of Cambridge does not have one because he does not like wearing jewellery, Kensington Palace sources said. Prince Harry is expected to follow suit when he marries Meghan Markle later this year. The Prince of Wales wears no wedding ring but does wear a signet ring on his left hand.

Engagement rings date back to ancient times and traditionally have been worn by women only. They were a sign that a woman was 'taken' but also represented a financial transaction. Until the 1930s in the US, a woman could sue for damages if her fiance broke off the engagement. Unlikely to marry again because she was seen as damaged goods, the jilted fiancee could keep the ring as compensation.

With 20 million followers on social media, Sheeran is an influential figure. But while he might push the trend for men wearing engagement rings, he has not started it.

Another singer, Michael Buble, sported one in 2010 before marrying his Argentinian fiancee, Luisana Lopilato. "The boy also wears the engagement ring [in Argentina]. That's what she tells me anyway," he said at the time.