Video: Lottery winner plucks up courage to pop the question after £6.6m windfall
Graham Nield, 55, said he had attempted to ask Amanda Vickers, 48, to marry him many times but kept losing his nerve.
But when he found out that he had matched all six Lotto numbers, Mr Nield, from Batley, West Yorkshire, finally decided the moment was right.
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Hide Ad“We recently went to Tenerife and I was planning to ask Amanda to marry me,” he said.
“But every morning at breakfast I got really nervous and the words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
“When we found out on Sunday that we’d won, I blurted out ‘Now will you marry me?’ to which she replied ‘Yes, but it isn’t because you’ve won the money, it’s because I love you’.”
The couple, who are both divorced, have been together for 10 years and have five grown-up children between them from previous relationships, and 13 grandchildren.
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Hide AdThey said they only told their family about their windfall last night when Mr Nield formally asked Ms Vickers’ mother Joan, 72, for permission to marry her daughter.
Ms Vickers said her mother had no hesitation after he went down on bended knee in front of her and her father James, also 72.
“I think she loves him more than I do,” she joked.
The couple plan a register office ceremony followed by a big party for friends and family.