Princess Diana’s famous sapphire and diamond engagement ring, which was widely believed to have been inherited by Prince Harry, was used by Prince William to pop the question to Princess Catherine.
The Duke of Sussex has now corrected the record regarding the touching tale that he gave the jewel to his older brother before popping the question in Kenya in 2010.
The royal acknowledged the entire story was “nonsense” in his memoir Spare, which was published in Spain on Thursday. He had not inherited his mother’s ring, so there was no touching moment when Harry gave it to William in a selfless gesture that acknowledged his true love with Catherine.
After their mother passed away in a car accident in France in 1997, William had requested the sapphire, and Harry had no objections.
When he returned to the UK and Buckingham Palace announced William and Catherine’s engagement in November 2010, Harry said he learned about it for the first time. He disclosed that the brothers had spent time together in Lesotho in June, just before the royal got down on one knee, but William had not mentioned his intentions.
He continued by wishing his brother all the best for his upcoming nuptials but expressing his desire to become a young husband and his assumption that he would be the first to wed.
At St Andrews University, William and Catherine started dating, but it took them eight years of on-and-off relationships before the prince proposed.
King Charles III’s son said, “We’ve talked about this happening for a while so Catherine wasn’t in the dark over it all,” in an interview with journalist Tom Bradby after the couple announced their engagement. It was just a matter of finding the right moment; we had been planning it for at least a year. As most couples state, timing is everything.
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“I had a military career and really wanted to focus on flying, but I couldn’t do this if I was still in training. Now that I’ve cleared that up, Catherine is in a good place professionally and personally, and we both agreed that this is a really good time.
