King Charles III Recalls Prince William's Proposal To Kate Middleton During Kenya Visit

King Charles III shared details about Prince William's marriage proposal to Kate Middleton while at a state banquet in Kenya on Tuesday, October 31. The trip marked the first Commonwealth country the monarch and Queen Camilla visited since his ascension to the throne on September 8, 2022.

His Majesty recalled some of the royal family's memories in Kenya during his speech at the banquet. He said the country is a special place for the family especially for his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, and his eldest son.

"It was here, in sight of Mount Kenya, that my son, the Prince of Wales, proposed to his wife, now my beloved daughter-in-law," King Charles III said of the November 16, 2010 proposal.

News of the engagement was made public a few weeks later, and then Prince William and Kate Middleton sat down for their first joint TV interview to talk about how it came about.

"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," Prince William had shared.

Meanwhile, Kate Middleton had said that the proposal "was a total shock when it came" even though they had been together for years having met as college students. Referring to her then-fiancé she added: "There's a true romantic in there."

In January 2020, the Prince of Wales further shared the reason why he chose Kenya to propose to Kate Middleton when they hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace celebrating the relationship between the U.K. and Africa.

He shared: "The African continent holds a very special place in my heart. It is the place my father took my brother and me shortly after our mother died. And when deciding where best to propose to Catherine, I could think of no more fitting place than Kenya to get down on one knee."

Aside from mentioning Prince William's proposal to Kate Middleton, King Charles III also remembered that the late Queen Elizabeth II "had a particular affection for Kenya and the Kenyan people".

"She arrived here in 1952 a princess but left as Queen. It is extremely moving to read her diary from that visit, in which she wrote that she did not want to miss a moment of Kenya's extraordinary landscapes. I really cannot thank you enough for the support Kenya gave her through that difficult time," he said.

King Charles III shared that it "means a great deal" to him and Queen Camilla that in their coronation year, their "first state visit to a Commonwealth country" should bring them to Kenya. He said they "both take considerable pride in renewing the ties between the United Kingdom and Kenya, a country that has long held such special meaning" for his family. He concluded his message in Swahili: "Today, I don't feel like a visitor."