The Royal Wedding : Prince William & Kate Middleton

Prince William is to marry Kate Middleton on Friday 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey, London. The ceremony will take place at 11am. The day has been declared a Royal Bank Holiday. David Cameron welcomed the announcement of the wedding date, which he said would be a "happy and momentous occasion". The timing of the wedding will mean there will be two four-day public holidays, two weekends in succession. The Monday after the wedding, May 2, is already a designated bank holiday; and the previous weekend is Easter, which also has two bank holidays on the Friday and Monday. It is eagerly anticipated that the Royal Wedding will be marked by Street Parties across the UK. Clarence House has confirmed that the Royal Couple will return to Buckingham Palace after a service at Westminster Abbey. The Queen will hold a Wedding Reception for the couple and their guests. Followed by a private dinner dance, for close family and friends, hosted by The Prince of Wales. Kate Middleton will arrive at Westminster Abbey by car. The service, which is to take place at 11am on Friday 29 April, will be conducted by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. On their journey from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, the Royal Couple will pass Parliament Square, Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade and The Mall.

Kate Middleton

“Catherine Elizabeth Middleton” may not be as Royal as Prince William but she was still given every opportunity by her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton.

Kate Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, the first of three children and was raised in Bucklebury, a quiet English village.

Kate’s father, Michael, was an airline officer and her mother, Carole, was a flight attendant, before they founded their own business “Party Pieces”. Kate Middleton’s parents were determined to give Kate the best education possible.

From the age of four to eleven, Kate attended St Andrew’s Prep School in Pangbourne, Berkshire, followed by two years at Downe House in Newbury.

Kate later went on to attend Marlborough College in Wiltshire and St Andrews University in Scotland.

Kate performed well, academically, gaining high grade passes in eleven GCSE and three good A-levels.

Before attending St Andrews University, where she studied History of Art, Kate decided to embark on a gap year travelling around Italy and South America.

Prince William

Prince William is the elder son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. He was born on 21 June 1982 at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London.

Although Prince William came from a privileged background his mother, Princess Diana, aspired for William and his younger brother Harry, to lead as normal a life as possible. Princess Diana did her best to give her children a sense of fun and freedom.

However Prince William’s childhood was affected by some traumatic events.

In 1996, after a period of separation, his parents divorced. The following year, Princess Diana tragically died in a road traffic accident in Paris. William was only 15 years old.

Prince William was given the very best of educations. He attended Wetherby School in London; Ludgrove School in Berkshire; and Eton College, London, where he studied Geography, Biology and History at A – Level.

Before going to St Andrews University in Scotland, where he gained a 2:1 in Geography, William spent a gap year travelling around Chile, Belize and Africa.

He is an avid sportsman, and was chosen to be President of England’s Football Association. He is also the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union.

Prince William continues to follow in his parents’ footsteps by taking an interest in various charitable causes, particularly in those that help disadvantaged young children and the homeless.

Prince William is currently a Patron of 19 different charitable organisations.

William was introduced to HIV and AIDS related charities, early on his life, by his mother Princess Diana. These early experiences led William to volunteer at a British Red Cross aid distribution centre in 2005.

Relations

Kate and Will’s romance blossomed at University, where they regularly saw each other in lectures and tutorials and around the University Halls.

The couple connected through their love of sport and gap year experiences.

By the time they entered their second year at University, Kate and Will had moved in together, as flatmates, but insisted they were only friends. However the pair soon became closer and started developing feelings for each other. After William graduated from University, he decided to join the Army. This decision put strain on the couple’s relationship, but William was dedicated to Kate, he often wrote handwritten love notes to her, or drove 45 minutes from his base to see her. Kate and Will tried to keep their relationship a secret from the press, but when they were spotted kissing on the slopes of the Casanna Alp whilst on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, in January 2006, they could no longer hide.

Charities

Over 20 ‘little known’ charities will benefit from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding list guest fund.

The Royal Couple have selected a wide range of charitable causes, many of which have not received Royal support in the past. They have requested that wedding guests and well-wishers donate rather than spend money on a gift.

The majority of the charities chosen are for causes in the UK. Many focus on the youth sector, including Peace Players Belfast, which is a small charity that brings young people from Protestant and Catholic communities together over a game of basketball. William and Kate visited the organisation when they were in Northern Ireland earlier this month.

Service charities also feature strongly and include Combat for Stress and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. Three overseas charities have been selected, including the New Zealand Government’s Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

The Wedding List Gift Fund

• Peace Players
• Ocean Youth Trust
• Greenhouse Schools
• Oily Cart
• Dance United
• Into University
• Venture Trust
• Beat Bullying
• Keyfund
• A National Voice Association for Children’s Palliative Care
• Youth Access Community Foundation in Wales
• Community Foundation in Scotland
• Community Foundation in Berkshire
• Combat Stress
• Cruse Bereavement Care for Children of Forces’ Families
• Household Cavalry Benevolent Fund
• Irish Guards Appeal
• Army Widows Association
• Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
• ZSL Earthwatch
• The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary
• New Zealand Government’s Christchurch Earthquake Appeal
• Royal Flying Doctor Service Australia

Guests

David and Victoria Beckham are just one of the ‘A’ list celebrity couples who will be attending the Royal Wedding. However Royal Aides report that this will not be a ‘celebrity-filled’ event.

Guests will include people who Prince William has met on official business or encountered through his charity work, as well as family and friends of the Royal Couple. There will also be representatives from foreign Royal Families, Government, Parliament, the Commonwealth and the Armed Forces.

President Obama will not be invited because William is not first in line to the throne and the Royal Wedding is not an official state occasion.

Surprise guest includes Gary Goldsmith, the disgraced Uncle of Kate Middleton, who has been invited to attend the ceremony … and perhaps less surprisingly Sarah Ferguson has not been invited at all.

While over 1,000 guests will attend the ceremony, only 600 guests have been invited by The Queen to a lunchtime Reception at Buckingham Palace, and a mere 300 to the evening dinner hosted by Prince Charles.

The dress code is uniform, morning coat or lounge suit.

A brief look at who will be attending “the Marriage of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales KG with Miss Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on Friday 29 April, 2011 at 11.00am”

The Royal Set

· The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh

· Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall

· Princess Anne and Timothy Laurence

· Prince Andrew

· Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex

· Prince Harry

· Princess Beatrice and boyfriend Dave Clark

· Princess Eugenie

· Lady Kitty Spencer

Kate’s family and friends of the Royal Couple

• Michael and Carole Middleton, Kate’s parents, owners of Party Pieces
• James Middleton, Kate’s brother
• Pippa Middleton, Kate’s sister
• Gary Goldsmith, Carole’s brother and black sheep of the family. William and Kate have stayed at his villa in Ibiza
• Alicia Fox-Pitt, one of Kate’s oldest friends who persuaded her to join the Sisterhood charity boat race
• Ben Fogle, TV presenter, and his wife Marina
• Tom Bradby, ITN political editor, and his wife Claudia, who designs jewellery and worked with Kate when she was an intern at Jigsaw
• Drummond Money-Coutts, Magic Circle member
• Emily Bevan, friend from St Andrews

Cabinet Ministers

· David Cameron, Prime Minister

· Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister

· George Osborne, Chancellor

· Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party

Honeymoon

William and Kate are rumoured to be spending part of their honeymoon at Balmoral in Scotland.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are likely to visit The Queen’s Scottish Estate at Balmoral, before jetting off to another romantic location.

Having met at the University of St Andrews, William and Kate have a particular love of Scotland. As a Royal source revealed “William is based in Wales and they are getting married in England, it was felt that Scotland should be included”.

A honeymoon at the Queen’s Highland home appears to be a Royal tradition. The Queen and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex … all spent a part of their honeymoons at Balmoral.

Kate’s wedding dress

Kate Middleton has been asked to select a designer for her wedding dress. She is keeping the fashion world on high alert as she decides which designer she will choose.

Newspapers have already started to speculate on the design of the wedding dress. One stylist predicts the dress will be a demure, high necked, hand embroidered, lace couture gown. Another stylist predicts a traditional dress with a modern twist.

Kate will keep the design of her wedding dress a secret until the Royal Wedding day on Friday 29 April 2011. She does not want Prince William to see the dress before the big day.

Golden ticket

Prince William and Kate Middleton have decided to invite 100 lucky “Golden Ticket Winners” to be a part of their Royal Wedding celebrations on Friday 29 April 2011.

The Royal Couple have re-created the Roald Dahl classic ’Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ style “Golden Ticket”.

Each of the lucky winners will be invited to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, followed by the wedding reception, which is rumoured will be held at Buckingham Palace.

However there is a catch… because of the high number of World Leaders and Royalty due to attend the wedding, the Golden Ticket winners will only, officially, be allowed to attend, once they have passed a strict security test.

According to The Sun Newspaper “William and Kate wanted the British people involved at a deeper level than simply holding street parties”.

Unlike in the story ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, where the golden tickets were hidden in a limited number of chocolate bars, Royal Wedding Golden Ticket Winners will be selected at random and will only know they have won when they receive their prize through the post.

Prince William and Kate Middleton will choose members of the public, by random selection, to attend their wedding.

3D wedding broadcasting

Broadcasters are discussing the possibility of broadcasting the British Royal Wedding in 3D.

According to the Daily Mail Newspaper, Sky, the BBC and Virgin are in joint discussions about screening the event live from Westminster Abbey in 3D.

The Daily Mail also reports that “Sky TV have pioneered the new 3D technology on the small screen, largely for sporting events, but it is more likely that a terrestrial broadcaster such as the BBC will get full access to footage of the event, in order to cater for the largest possible TV audience.”

To experience the Royal Wedding in 3D in your own home you will need to have the required technology. Alternatively it may be possible to watch the wedding in 3D in other venues, such as pubs, cinemas and big screens, across the country.