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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season 4 of The Crown.
It's been almost four decades since the world first laid eyes on Princess Diana's engagement ring.
In February 1981, 19-year-old Diana and 32-year-old Prince Charles stepped out to announce their engagement while giving reporters a glimpse of the 12-carat Ceylon sapphire ring.
Since then, it's gone on to become one of the most recognisable engagement rings in the world, inspiring countless replicas.
The famous ring recently featured on the fourth season of The Crown, where Princess Diana is shown picking out the ring while her future husband and mother-in-law, the queen, watch on.
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But exactly how accurate is The Crown's portrayal? Here's the true story behind Princess Diana’s ring.
How did Prince Charles propose to Princess Diana?
The Crown doesn't exactly give us a fairy tale portrayal of Princess Diana's engagement.
After the proposal, Charles makes a phone call to the Queen, who asks whether or not he got down on one knee.
"I thought in terms of rank, the Prince of Wales only ever knelt before the sovereign," Charles replies.
Alas, the real-life proposal doesn't sound that much more romantic.
"[Charles] said, 'Will you marry me?' and I laughed," Diana recalled in the 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story.
"I remember thinking, 'This is a joke,' and I said, 'Yeah, OK,' and laughed. He was deadly serious. He said, 'You do realise that one day you will be queen?' And a voice said to me inside, 'You won't be queen, but you will have a tough role'…'"
"'Yes,' I said, 'I love you so much, I love you so much.' He said, 'Whatever love means.'… and so he ran upstairs and rang his mother."
The couple later announced their engagement on February 24.
Image: Getty.