Walk on the wild side ends in proposal at Fota Wildlife Park

She’s helped steer a naval vessel through storms and mountainous seas and has co-ordinated daring boarding missions with total focus and nerves of steel.

But young Irish naval officer Lieutenant Grace Fanning, 31, second in command of the LE Aoife, admitted she was a nervous wreck before she stunned her girlfriend with a surprise wedding proposal in a wildlife park over the weekend.

Grace, from Carlow, said it was one of the most emotional moments of her life as she dropped on one knee in Fota Wildlife Park on Saturday to ask her girlfriend of seven years, Carol Brady, 26, from Wexford, to marry her.