I gave Kate the chance to back out of engagement, says Prince William

Prince William has revealed that he kept his engagement news under wraps to give his longtime-girlfriend Kate Middleton a chance to back out of becoming a member of the royal family.

The prince popped the question to Middleton in Kenya last month (Oct10) and chose to keep the news away from the media until this week to allow his former university sweetheart to fully understand what marrying him entailed.

“We”ve been talking about it for a long time, so, for us, it”s a real relief and it”s really nice to be able to tell everybody,” the Daily Express quoted him as saying in the couple”s first official TV interview.

“The last two or three weeks, it”s been quite difficult not telling anyone and keeping it to ourselves for reasons we have to… I wanted to give her a chance to back out if she needed to before it all got too much… I just wanted to give her the best chance to settle in,” he added.

William admitted he defied tradition and asked Middleton to be his wife before seeking her father”s consent – because he wasn”t sure his new fiancee would say yes