Il Divo’s serious proposal

June 05, 2007 12:00am

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To marry: Australian Renee Murphy and Frenchman Sebastien Izambard, of Il Divo, became engaged at the weekend. Picture: Darren Roberts

CHART-topper Il Divo doesn’t just sing about falling in love.

The group’s heart-throb, Sebastien Izambard, proposed to Melbourne-born girlfriend Renee Murphy at the weekend.

Frenchman Izambard popped the question after a Deev gig in Brussels, Belgium, on Saturday.

"It was very romantic," Murphy told Herald Sun music reporter Cameron Adams.

"We’d had a conversation ages ago about a perfect romantic moment. I
hate cliches. I was saying my perfect romantic moment for something
like that would be outside some dodgy pub with a karaoke singer."

Izambard was taking notes — busting out the ring outside a pub.

However, Murphy wasn’t sure if he was legit.

"When it happened, we were talking about the craziest things we’d like to do," she said.

"He said, ‘The craziest thing I’d do is ask you to be my wife’.

"I just laughed, but he said he was serious.

"I kept laughing even after he put the ring on my hand.

"When he had the ring box, I thought it might have been some jewellery a fan had given to him.

"Then when he said, ‘I want you to be my wife’, I realised he was serious."

The pair met in 2005 when Murphy was working as a publicist at Il Divo’s record company during an Australian tour.

She quit her job and moved to Paris last July.

Izambard has been carrying the ring around with him since December,
when he found it in a vintage store in Ireland, waiting for the perfect
opportunity.

"I knew she might have been expecting a proposal, so whenever there was an obvious moment I didn’t do it," Izambard said.

"We had this beautiful hotel in Venice and that would have been ideal, but it just didn’t feel right until now."

The pair, who have just bought a house in London’s trendy Notting
Hill, haven’t set a wedding date but expect to marry in either Paris or
Italy.