SO SWEET FOR LOVE! George Clooney cooked a home-made meal before proposing to girlfriend Amal AlamuddinR LOVE! #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

HOLLYWOOD heartthrob George Clooney showed that romance is not dead by proposing to his British-based girlfriend on one knee – after first cooking her a meal at his home.

George Clooney at the New York premiere of Gravity last year[WENN]

The multi-millionaire star, almost as famous for his reluctance to marry as for his screen roles, rustled up the intimate dinner at his California mansion.

Then he popped the question and gave human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin a stunning seven-carat engagement ring he had personally helped to design.

A source close to Clooney said: “George cooked a meal himself for Amal at home, then he surprised her by getting down on bended knee and presenting her with the ring.

“He was so happy she accepted, he was calling friends with the news later that night.”

Beirut-born Miss Alamuddin may have seemed to outsiders an unlikely match for one of Hollywood’s most eligible men.

But Clooney, the star of hits including Out Of Sight, The American, The Descendants and Gravity, chose the Oxford graduate above his supermodel exes.

Human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin [GETTY]

They plan on being together forever

Hollywood Source

Fluent in French and Arabic, Miss Alamuddin has carved out an impressive career for herself as a high-flying lawyer working from London’s Doughty Street Chambers.

Soon after Clooney asked Miss Alamuddin, 36, for her hand in marriage, his beaming fiancee was seen showing off the ring during dinner in Malibu with model Cindy Crawford.

Oscar-winning Clooney, 52, helped select the look of the platinum piece, which features an ethically mined emerald-cut diamond estimated at seven-plus carats with two tapered baguettes set either side of the main stone. “They plan on being together forever,” a Hollywood source said. “He respects that she is not remotely involved in his world.”

In March, Clooney, who has spent six years as a part-time UN peace messenger, flew to Dubai to meet UN adviser Miss Alamuddin’s family.

Her mother Baria is an editor at Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat and her father Ramzi is a retired travel agency owner. Being Hollywood royalty, Clooney then booked a two-day yacht trip for his fiancee and her siblings.

Miss Alamuddin and Clooney, up until now one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, could be married by September – although the venue is unlikely to be his luxurious lakeside home in Italy, according to US reports.

It is where he has entertained a number of previous girlfriends.