Princess: A Round’s Fire, Cut to Sharp Corners

A square brilliant cut, combining a round’s faceted sparkle with sharp, modern corners. Developed decades after the round to answer a real gap: brilliant-cut fire in a square silhouette.

• A relatively modern cut, developed between the 1960s and 1980s specifically to bring brilliant faceting to a square shape.
• Retains more rough weight than a round from the same original crystal, which can make it more efficient per carat.
• Four pointed corners are the shape’s most vulnerable point, and need protective prongs.
• A clean, modern read, among the most popular fancy shapes after round.

Why it exists

For most of the 20th century, a square diamond meant a step-cut like an emerald or asscher, elegant, but without a brilliant cut’s scattered fire. The princess cut was developed specifically to close that gap: full brilliant-style faceting arranged within a square outline, giving clients sharp modern geometry without giving up sparkle.

What it means for cost

A princess cut typically retains more of the original rough crystal’s weight than a round does, since less material is cut away to achieve its square shape. That efficiency is a real, practical reason a princess cut can come in more affordably per carat than a round of comparable quality.

A round’s fire, cut to sharper corners.

Protecting the corners

A princess cut’s four sharp corners are its most vulnerable feature, thin points of diamond that can chip under a hard knock if left unprotected. We always set a princess with V-tip prongs specifically engineered to shield each corner, standard, necessary practice, not an aesthetic choice.

Who chooses princess, and when

Princess is a common choice for clients who want a clean, modern, geometric look with genuine brilliant-cut sparkle, and it is one of the few fancy shapes that still reads as unmistakably contemporary rather than vintage or antique.

Princess or radiant

Choose princess for the sharpest, most defined square corners. Choose radiant if you want a similar brilliant sparkle with softer, cropped corners that are naturally more chip-resistant.