A right royal engagement! Romantic Guardsman, 21, proposes to long term love during Buckingham Palace visit

• .Guardsman Josh Addison, 21, proposed in the Palace gardens
• .His fiance, Marta Slowinska, 24, said yes straight away
• .The couple, from Grimsby, were joined by friends and family
• .Addison was at the Palace with his regiment, the Grenadier Guards

By RUTH STYLES

With its imposing honey-coloured stone and lush lawns, Buckingham Palace's garden is one of London's loveliest locations.

But unlike the London Eye and other popular proposal spots, the royal residence is rarely privy to romantic moments - until now.

To the delight of watching colleagues, Guardsman Josh Addison, 21, went down on one knee and treated his girlfriend, Marta Slowinska, 24, to a right royal proposal - moments after the Queen had presented his battalion with new colours,

Romantic: Guardsman Josh Addison goes down on one knee in front of Marta Slowinska in the Palace gardens

Excitement: Marta, who promptly said yes, and Josh were then joined by delighted friends and colleagues

Despite her shock, delighted Martha said yes straight away in front of a smiling crowd that included Guardsman Addison's family and comrades from his regiment, the Grenadier Guards.

 

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The couple, who have been together for three years, met in Guardsman Addison's home town of Grimsby in Lincolnshire, where his parents Mark and Alison live.

His excited mother said: 'To see him propose at the Palace was tremendous. Marta is a lovely girl.'

Unusual though Guardsman Addison's proposal is, he is not the only would-be husband to have gone down on one knee in the Queen's backyard.

Delighted: Guardsman Addison's family joined the happy couple and his father dispensed a paternal hug

Happy family: The newly engaged couple then posed for photographs with their ecstatic friends and family

Last year, a gymnast who performed in the London 2012 Opening Ceremony popped the question during a garden party at the Palace in the May before the Games.

Steve King, 33, from Reading, proposed to Jenny Parkinson, now 29, during a party also attended by the Duchess of Cambridge.

Like Miss Slowinska, Parkinson promptly said yes.

Others to make the Palace the backdrop for a romantic proposal include Dean Nicholls, 27, who proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Lauren Green, 28, outside the front gate of Buckingham Palace.