Jamie Oliver shocked his wife Jools when he made a confession about her engagement ring two decades after he proposed.
The Jamie: Fast & Simple host was chatting to Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo on their Newlyweds podcast when he admitted that he had let her believe she had a diamond from Tiffany & Co until now.
Looking back at his proposal, he said: "I asked your dad, and he said, 'You're a nice boy but you're too young.' Within half a second, Mrs Norton's head – that's her mother – came round the door. She wasn't supposed to be there. And she went, 'That means yes.'"
After getting her family's blessing, Jools' dad passed away following a stroke in 1997 so he chose a sentimental location to propose.
"I proposed to Jools, it doesn't sound romantic, over his grave on Christmas Eve. It was pissing down with rain," Jamie said, adding: "I wanted to propose in front of him."
The Naked Chef star popped the question with a ring he pulled out of a Tiffany box, but at age 23, he couldn't afford to buy it from the iconic brand. "I had a nice ring, it was a Tiffany ring. But we were skint so I got it copied in Hatton Garden," confessed Jamie, to which Jules replied: "Oh so it wasn't Tiffany."
Realising his slip-up, Jamie continued: "I got a fake box as well. [Expletive] she didn't even know that, I hadn't lied I'd just never told her it wasn't Tiffany. It was really nice."
When former Made in Chelsea star Jamie asked if Jools still had the ring in her possession, she replied: "I kind of upgraded a bit but yes I've got it in the safe."
The graveyard proposal came one year after he had first planned to pop the question. "I was going to propose to her on the island of Sark near Guernsey which is where her father had proposed to her mother.
"I was all prepped to do it but for some reason, she pissed me off so I thought, 'I'm not doing it,'" Jamie recalled, adding he only had a bottle top instead of a ring at the time.
Jools' three engagement rings
Jools has been spotted wearing several rings on her left hand, starting with a delicate diamond in a bezel setting.
"This a stunning platinum ring, featuring a 1.5-carat round brilliant cut diamond in a bezel setting. The diamond is possibly VVS1 clarity, making the ring worth an estimated £8,000," said engagement ring expert Laura Taylor from Lorel Diamonds.
She layered it on top of her simple silver wedding ring studded with diamonds and later added a third band to the stack. In 2005, Jools was pictured wearing a diamond and pink sapphire eternity ring that was worth an estimated £1,950.
By 2013, Jools had swapped her signet engagement ring for a sparkling diamond on a pave band.
"Jools’ third ring from Jamie is a classic white gold ring, featuring a 1-carat round brilliant cut diamond in a 4-prong setting with smaller embedded diamonds. The central diamond is likely VS2 clarity, making the ring worth an estimated £5,000," Laura explained.
The couple got married on 24 June 2000 at All Saints Church in Rickling, and they are now parents to five children: Poppy, 21, Daisy, 20, Petal, 15, Buddy, 14, and River, eight.
DISCOVER: 12 best diamond engagement rings for 2024: From oval to princess cuts