EastEnders’ Shona McGarty is engaged to Irish musician David Bracken

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Shona McGarty has announced her engagement to partner David Bracken after he got down on one knee in London’s Holland Park. 

The EastEnders actress, who portrayed legend Whitney Dean on the soap for over 16 year, admitted she ‘had no idea’ David, who plays in an Irish band named Blessed, was going to pop the question. 

The couple, who met last year, enjoyed a romantic picnic date which was almost ruined when the police showed up. 

Speaking with OK!, David explained how the police arrived to ‘close up the park’ and he had to ask them to give him ‘five minutes as he was going to propose’. 

He said: ‘I went over to the police, who said, ‘Sorry we are just closing up the park’. I said, ‘Would you mind giving me five minutes as I am about to propose to my partner?’ He looked at his watch and said, ‘Of course, and best of luck’ says David.

‘So, I told Shona to go stand at the waterfall in the park. I then put on our favourite song and had a dance with her before getting down on one knee.’

David had chosen a tranquil corner of the park called Kyoto Garden – somewhere that means a lot to Shona. 

She added: ‘I love Japanese culture and the spirituality of it. He brought a picnic which was really sweet. It was lovely, I was in my element but I didn’t think he was going to propose at all.’

The couple first met a year ago after David, who had no idea Shona stars in EastEnders, messaged her on TikTok to see if she would like to duet on a song after watching one of her videos.

Shone gushed that she knew David was ‘the one’ as the relationship felt ‘different’ to previous ones. 

The pair also revealed to the publication that they have already started ‘looking at colour schemes’ and locations for their weddings. 

Shona said they are hiping to get married next year and are thinking about a Christmas wedding. She added the nuptials will likely take place in Ireland as they both have a lot of family there. 

Giving an insight into their A-lister wedding guest list, Shone revealed the majority of the EastEnders cast will be invited as they are ‘a big part of the couple’s journey’. 

Shona ‘soft launched’ her relationship with the Irish musician back in September as she shared a black-and-white photograph of their hands intertwined, with David’s displaying his distinctive tattoo. 

The actress wrote: ‘I promise,’ along with a romantic John Lennon quote in the caption, which read: ‘Love is a promise, Love is a souvenir, once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear.’

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Two days earlier, David had shared the same shot and penned: ‘A promise is a promise. Never to be broken. #happy #happyplace.’ 

Back in October 2022, Shona and her ex-boyfriend Max Bowden reportedly split following a six-month romance, after he welcomed a baby boy with his ex Roisin Buckle. 

 Roisin discovered she was pregnant at the beginning of 2022 but the couple decided to separate in March, while agreeing to co-parent once their son was born.

Max – who plays Ben Mitchell on EastEnders – and Shona’s former romance then came to light in May 2022 after sources claimed the pair were ‘inseparable.’

They made their relationship Instagram official in August 2022, but six months later a source told The Sun: ‘There has been a lot going on in Max’s life and things were just getting too complicated with Shona being involved. 

‘Max will always have a lot of love and respect for Shona but it’s just not the right time.’

A friend close to the couple also added: ‘Max and Shona have never spoken on it publicly but as their close circle would know, they were never in an official relationship and remain close friends who decided not to pursue anything romantic a number of months ago.’