Duchess Sophie stunned by Prince Edward's secret move

Duchess Sophie, known as King Charles III's steadfast companion, was once left in awe by Prince Edward's secret move.

Edward and Duchess Sophie announced their engagement on 6 January 1999 before getting married on June 19 in the same year in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

However, there was something rather unconventional about the way that the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II proposed to his wife.

The two reportedly went to the remote island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas in December 1998, where the royal had booked the private Hamilton House, a four-bedroom villa on the beach.

They spent two days there before he proposed at a candle-lit dinner, according to royal biographer Sean Smith, who wrote about the event in the Duchess' biography, Sophie: Saving the Royal Family.

He described the proposal as "gallant" and added that: "Sophie was stunned and could scarcely speak the word 'yes' before finding her voice and replying, 'Yes, please!'."

They then returned to the UK, when Edward joined the royals at Sandringham for Christmas and Sophie went back to Brenchley.

The two planned to keep the proposal a secret until then, once the younger brother of King Charles had his future father-in-law's blessing.

However, the unconventional part of the proposal was that Prince Edward only formally asked his wife's father, Christopher Rhys-Jones, for Sophie's hand in marriage on 6 January.