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Time flies! It’s been a decade since Prince William and Kate Middleton ’s royal engagement was announced. Monday, Nov. 16, marks the 10-year anniversary of when Clarence House shared the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s exciting news with a statement that read: “The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.”
The then-royal bride-to-be stunned wearing a blue Issa wrap dress to announce her engagement alongside Prince William at St. James’s Palace. The silk jersey design complemented Kate’s sapphire engagement ring, which previously belong to Prince William’s late mother, Princess Diana .
“It is a family ring, yes. It‘s my mother’s engagement ring. So I thought it was quite nice because obviously she’s not going to be around to share any of the fun and excitement of it all - this was my way of keeping her sort of close to it all,” William said in their engagement interview. Kate added, “Well, I just hope I look after it. It’s very, very special.”
The Duke, who asked for Kate’s father Michael Middleton’s permission, got down on one knee and proposed to his college sweetheart during a private holiday in Kenya. “I’d been planning it for a while but as every guy out there will know it takes a certain amount of motivation to get yourself going. So I was planning it and then it just felt really right out in Africa. It was beautiful at the time. I just … I had done a little bit of planning to show my romantic side,” William shared. “You hear a lot of horror stories about proposing and things going horribly wrong—it went really, really well and I was really pleased she said yes.”
William and Kate went on to tie the knot in a fairy-tale royal wedding at London’s Westminster Abbey in 2011. The Duke and Duchess, who are parents to Prince George , seven, Princess Charlotte , five, and Prince Louis , two, will celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary in April.