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The Duke of Cambridge opened up on the emotions he felt in the weeks before he proposed to Kate.
In an interview released following the announcement of the engagement in November 2010, which recently resurfaced, Prince William revealed he thought for a long time whether to ask Mr Middleton for Kate’s hand before or after receiving a yearned “yes” from his daughter.
The prince candidly admitted: “I was torn between asking Kate’s dad first, and then the realisation he might actually say no came to me.
“So I thought if I ask Kate first, then he can’t really say no.”
But he soon discovered his fears were unfounded, as the Middletons were ecstatic at the news.
Prince William said: “I managed to speak to mike sort of soon after it happened.”
Kate said her mother was “over the moon” when she told her the prince had proposed.
But the sweet moment didn’t lack a bit of awkwardness, she revealed.
Explaining she could not speak about the engagement to her mother until her then-fiance told Mr Middleton, she said: “She was absolutely over the moon, and actually we had quite an awkward situation because I knew [about the engagement], and I knew that William had asked my father, but I didn’t know if my mum knew.
“So I came back from Scotland and my mother didn’t make it clear to me whether she knew or not, so both of us were there, sort of looking at each other, and feeling quite awkward about it.
“But it was amazing to tell her, and obviously she is very happy for us.”
Marriage historian Susan Waggoner explained why asking a father for the daughter’s hand before proposing was an important part of the engagement etiquette in the past.
She said: “Historically, courtship was a family affair; a young man who caught the eye of a young woman was to arrange an introduction to the father of his chosen lady.”
Today, this gesture is regarded as an act of respect towards the older generation and a way to get closer to the new family.
William and Kate had known each other for 17 years, as they met at St Andrews University in September 2001.
Their love story didn’t start immediately, as the pair warmed up as friends for more than a year before dating.
But they started sharing domestic moments from early on in their relationship, as they went to live together in a student house with two other peers in 2002.
Their relationship was officially revealed to the world in March 2004, when they were pictured skiing in the Swiss village of Klosters together and Clarence House didn’t deny they were dating.
Prince William proposed to Kate in October 2010, three years after their relationship became serious following a period of dating.
Speaking about their engagement, the now-Duke of Cambridge confessed he had been carrying around the ring for three weeks, waiting for the right moment to ask the big question.
He said: “It happened about three weeks ago, during a holiday in Kenya.
“I just decided it was the right time, really, we have been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasn’t a massively big surprise, really, but I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya and I proposed.”
Kate described the moment as “very romantic”.
The Duchess of Cambridge was given the sapphire and diamond ring that had previously been Princess Diana’s engagement ring.
Opening up on the sadness he felt about the fact that her late mother, who died in August 1997 in a car crash, could not be with them to share their happiness, the prince said: “I thought it was quite nice [to use Diana’s ring], because obviously she is not around to share any of the fun and excitement, so this is my way of sort of keeping her close to this.”
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