Zara Tindall is an Olympian and a champion equestrian. She doesn’t have a title so she’s allowed to make money via sponsorships, appearances and various side-jobs. One of those side-gigs: Zara slapped her name on a jewelry line with Calleija. Easy money, right? Be a royal-adjacent, “design” a jewelry line and cash checks. Unfortunately, the jewelry line uses pink diamonds from Australia, and there are huge environmental issues piling up:

Zara Tindall has been selling the same pink diamonds from a pollution-hit mine at the centre of the Ellie Goulding row for tens of thousands of pounds, the Mirror can reveal. The King’s niece, who has publicly backed ocean conservation, has her own jewellery range with Calleija which feature the stones from Australia’s Argyle mine, where traditional owners say “forever chemicals” have destroyed the land.

She even attended a Buckingham palace garden party wearing the diamonds, in May 2025. Calleija’s website lists at least four designs under Zara’s name containing Argyle pink diamonds, including rings, a pendant and earrings. Its platinum Suprema Saddle ring contains 27 Argyle pink diamonds and is said to reflect Zara’s love of equestrian eventing. It costs £21,600. The Sunrise ring, made from 18ct white and yellow gold, contains an Argyle pink diamond surrounded by 20 white diamonds. Its description celebrates the stone’s “rare beauty”. A matching Sunrise pendant and Sunrise stud earrings also contain the same gems.

We revealed last week how environmental concerns over the mine are laid bare in a damning 2025 report from Gelganyem, the organisation representing traditional owners’ interests. It said: “Land use will be permanently restricted due to soil, groundwater and surface water contamination from PFAS [known as forever chemicals] and hydrocarbons.” Other findings identify serious erosion, fish needing chemical testing, as well as damage to indigenous sites including burial grounds and a ceremonial cave containing rock art.

Zara’s promotion of the pink diamonds appears at odds with her environmental credentials. She is a supporter of Tusk, the African conservation charity whose royal patron is her cousin Prince William, with her and husband Mike Tindall attending their awards at London’s Savoy hotel on November 26 last year. In his speech that evening, William praised “the indigenous communities and local conservation leaders who provide the practical solutions to how we can best sustain our precious natural landscapes”. She also attended the event in 2022.

Her and husband Mike also launched a fundraising cycle ride for the conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation. The couple joined the opening stage of its third London-to-Monaco ride in September 2018, cycling from Herne Hill Velodrome in south London to Dover.

Gelganyem, the organisation representing traditional owners’ interests, said it was “hard to reconcile” the sale of the diamonds at such high prices when “funds to rehabilitate the Country to a high standard after mining are often lacking.” They said in a statement: “This is not about targeting individuals. It is about asking brands, suppliers and public figures who promote these products to support transparency – and ensuring that the people most connected to the land are heard.”

They added: “The questions raised by the promotion of Argyle diamonds are bigger than any one person or piece of jewellery. They are about whether the story of a product includes the people whose Country was mined, what happened after mining ended, and how we know commitments to rehabilitation are being met.”

Thanking the Mirror for drawing attention to the issue, they added: “Traditional Owners welcome the fact that these stories are able to shine a light on the work that the Gelganyem Group is doing to ensure that the Argyle mine is closed responsibly and in a way that meets reasonable environmental expectations.”

The Argyle mine, in Western Australia’s East Kimberley region, stopped production in November 2020 after supplying around 90 per cent of the world’s pink diamonds. Mining giant Rio Tinto has been carrying out rehabilitation ahead of the eventual return of the land to its owners.

[From The Daily Mirror]

Okay, this is not great, but it also feels pretty bad-faith on the Mirror’s part. I’m not going to cape for Zara, but it seems pretty clear that she just teamed up a legitimate jewelry brand and “designed” some pieces, and it was up to Calleija to source ethical (not to mention environmentally-friendly) stones. I’m more curious about the fact that the Mirror is treating Zara the way most British tabloids treat the Duchess of Sussex. Like, if Meghan had some kind of association with a jewelry brand doing this, the Mirror and Mail would run similar headlines too. “Meghan’s diamonds are destroying Australia, Meghan is personally responsible for forever chemicals!!” Et cetera. Why is Zara suddenly getting this treatment?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.