As soon as royal watchers heard the happy announcement on Tuesday morning – that Sweden's Princess Madeleine was to wed – they were on the edge of their seats anticipating the first glimpse of her engagement ring. And there wasn't long to wait. That afternoon, with her lawyer love Jonas Bergstrom at her side, King Carl XVI Gustaf's younger daughter showed off the diamond sparkler at Solliden Palace on Oland Island, southern Sweden.
The couple revealed on Tuesday that their decision to wed came in June when Jonas asked for Madeleine's hand during a holiday on the Italian island of Capri. "I went down on one knee and proposed," 30-year-old Jonas told members of the press gathered at the royal family's summer residence.
"And I said, 'Of course I want to," Princess Madeleine finished. When asked what had attracted them to each other, Jonas said: "I fell for her beautiful blue eyes and her wonderful laugh."
Madeleine also said she had noticed her fiancé's eyes the first time they met. "He's also the nicest person in the world, a wonderful friend," added the 27-year-old royal. The couple said they had met through mutual friends in the autumn of 2002, and had started dating a year later.
Like Crown Princess Victoria's husband-to-be Daniel Westling, Jonas will receive the title of duke when he weds.
The nuptials will take place "at the end of next year or the start of 2011," said Jonas, the son of a construction company owner who grew up in Djursholm, outside of Stockholm. On Tuesday night the couple celebrated their happy news with an engagement dinner, held at Solliden and attended by their two families.
