When Prince Charles announced he was engaged to Lady Diana Spencer on February 24, 1981 - 40 years ago today - the world thought they were watching the beginning of a fairytale love story.
We know now that couldn't have been further from the truth, and both have spoken about what was really happening behind the scenes at that point.
Diana described their engagement interview as "ghastly" and said Charles's infamous answer to being asked if they were in love "traumatised her".
In Diana: In Her Own Words, she said: "We had this ghastly interview the day we announced our engagement.
"And this ridiculous [reporter] said, ‘Are you in love?’ I thought, what a thick question.
"So I said, ‘Yes, of course, we are,’ and Charles turned round and said, ‘Whatever love means.’
"And that threw me completely. I thought, what a strange answer. It traumatized me."
After asking the question, Charles picked up the phone to call his mum, the Queen.
Speaking in a Channel 5 documentary Charles and Di: The Truth Behind Their wedding, royal biographer Christopher Wilson said: "He didn't pick her up in her arms and embrace or do any of the things we might do when we propose marriage to the one that we love.
"He rang his mum, simply to say there, I've done it now. You've asked me to get married to somebody and I've fixed it.
"What he'd done was he'd finally found a wife."
Speaking on the programme, royal expert Ingrid Seward explains that the big proposal was far from romantic.
She claims that Diana actually started laughing when he asked the question.
She said: "She burst out laughing, I think that was probably her nerves.
"She didn't think it was the most romantic of proposals but she had the proposal."
Wilson adds: "She was completely bowled over by this, didn't see it coming."
After popping the question, Charles presented Diana with a selection of rings by Garrard of Mayfair, the Crown Jeweller at the time.
She picked the white gold ring with 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding the famous sapphire.
But there was a problem with is - it wasn't bespoke.
The ring had actually featured in a catalogue which means, unlike most royal engagement rings, it wasn't unique, reports the Sun.
In fact, anyone could have bought exactly the same ring - which didn't go down well with the royals or their staff.
