A Shrinking Kate Requests Smaller Engagement Ring

April 13 2011— -- An increasingly willowy Kate Middleton has requested that her engagement ring be made smaller, to safeguard against the 18-carat sapphire-and-diamond band accidentally slipping off her slender finger.

"A bride's worst nightmare is looking down and seeing her ring has fallen off. One can only imagine how this is magnified when you are marrying the future King of England," a Royal source told The Sun.

The ring is now too big for her size-H finger, so Crown jewelers G Collins and Sons will attach two teensy platinum beads, known as "speed bumps," inside the bottom of the ring. This adjustment will make the ring a dainty size I.

Although the stately ring is valued at $36 million, Prince William chose to offer it to his betrothed for deeply sentimental reasons. In 1981, Lady Diana chose the sapphire stone with diamonds for her own engagement. Using this ring is seen as a way to insure Wills' mom is symbolically present on the couple's wedding day. Suffice it to say that Kate does not want to lose this family heirloom.