Historic moments and events has been on a steady increase for members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace through the years and in recent news, a surprise proposal. A naval engineer, who was awarded an MBE for his services to the military on Tuesday, decided the Queen’s London residence was the perfect place to pop the question.
Matthew Gallimore, an air engineering technician in the Royal Navy, surprised his partner Adele Thomasson in the palace’s quadrangle, after he was awarded with his honour at the investiture ceremony. He told the Press Association that while the royal household wouldn’t permit him to propose inside the palace, they agreed he could get down on one knee within the grounds.
Matthew said:
“They said, ‘at the end of the day it’s the Queen’s house, so the last thing you want to do is annoy the Queen’. And that’s the last thing I want!” He added: “I kept it all quite private really, I asked her dad’s permission. There’s only about half a dozen people who knew, Adele didn’t have a clue. She was chuffed, she didn’t have a clue. She was very, very surprised.”
Matthew also revealed to PA that he was particularly pleased that Prince William was the royal who presented him with the honours.
He said:
“I said to my parents beforehand if it wasn’t the Queen doing it, I would have liked it to have been him. I know all of the royal family have done military time, but I’ve got a lot of time for William and Harry. Once I knew it was him I was a bit more relaxed to be honest. If it had been the Queen I’d have been panicking.”
That’s a day the happy couple – and the royal household – are likely not to forget!
The couple celebrated at The Ritz Hotel in London with drinks, followed by dinner at The Ivy.
