THE MOMENT: Prince William Put Ring on It 15 Years Ago, Proposing to Kate Middleton in Africa

For a couple whose relationship had been so very public, Prince William and Kate Middleton were able to keep their Oct. 20, 2010, engagement private — for nearly a month.

- By Shelby Stivale

It helped that it happened on another continent: While holidaying with friends for a few weeks at Kenya’s Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, he took his love up to a log cabin on Mount Kenya, where he got down on one knee and presented her with his late mother Princess Diana’s engagement ring.

WHO WAS INVOLVED

Only the most recognizable couple in the world. William and Kate, each now 43, met in 2001 at Scotland’s University of St Andrews — “not the norm,” royal historian Marlene Koenig tells Us, but it ended up being “a more natural way to get to know each other.” As the story goes, their friendship turned into something more after he saw her in a sheer dress at a charity fashion show! (The piece wouldn’t even qualify as nearly nude today.)

WHY WE REMEMBER IT