News | January 7, 2011

The Princess’ Carriage: A Summary Of The Royal Wedding

News | January 7, 2011

The Princess’ Carriage: A Summary Of The Royal Wedding


As more details emerge on The Royal Wedding you can’t liken the whole build up to TV series with rather bad cliffhangers at the end of each episode. You try not to anticipate what will happen next, but then can’t help a sneaky peak at the next development.

Let’s just admit it—we’re all secretly fascinated by a princess’ wedding. So let’s have a little round up on what we know for now on Kate and Wills’ big day.

Princess’ Carriage


Kate will break with centuries of royal tradition by traveling to Westminster Abbey by car—not the horse-drawn Glass Coach.  The couple is keen to keep the day a modern affair and that means the Glass Coach, so called due to its huge glass windows, which was built for Lord Mayor of London in 1881, is out.

Kate’s route to the Abbey will take her via The Mall, Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, and Parliament Square, and up to the one million well-wishers who are expected to gather along the route. Just a typical English wedding then.

However, suspicious have been raised on just how big, or rather small, the train on Kate’s wedding gown will be. Princess Diana used the Glass Coach, as it was the only means capable of transporting the 25ft train on her gown. Oh dear. Fingers crossed it’s a stretch limo.

The Dress


Designer to the stars Phillipa Lepley, has been tipped as the bookmakers’ favorite to design Kate’s wedding dress since news of the wedding broke. Close on the running too is British designer Bruce Oldfield. Suffice to say, whichever designer Kate does sport on the day is set for a lucrative future due to the bride-to-be’s new fashion status. The £399 dress that Kate wore at her first public appearance with William, after announcing their engagement, sold out within hours.

The Start Time

11am.

April 29th—as if you didn’t know.

The Kiss


At 1:30pm expect a snog on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Following the ceremony at Westminster Abbey the newly-weds will travel back to Gran’s house where the Queen will then hold an informal lunch for 900 guests at 12.30pm. An hour into it the couple will appear on the balcony to kiss in front of thousands of fans, flashing cameras, and the world’s beady eyes. Let’s hope that lunch doesn’t have onion in it.

Friends

The most sought after invitation of 2011 is surely to be sent out by the couple to their nearest and dearest is it not? Well, not actually.

Invites will be sent out by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which will consult the young couple and look back in files to see which public figures should be invited, according to protocol. Since Prince William will one day be King, the guest list is not entirely his prerogative. So there.

The Queen and the Prince of Wales will have a say, and certain government departments may be consulted, most particularly the Protocol Department of the Foreign Office. And that’s the way it’s always been. Lord and Lady Spencer, for example, were allowed only 30 personal guests at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981. So a wedding where you don’t actually know any of your own guests. Doesn’t seem so glamorous now does it?!

Entertainment


News just in! According to sources, Sir Paul McCartney is said to be getting ready for a performance at the reception, which will take place later in the evening, held by Prince Charles. Friends say that Prince William and Kate are both fans of the rock legend and they personally asked him to sing. Royal sources are yet to confirm the news and to say which songs the couple would like to hear. ‘Give Ireland Back’ to the Irish and ‘The Frog Song’ have been suggested by fans.

Wedding Life After

In another break with tradition, Prince William and Kate Middleton have expressed a desire to have no servants at all. The couple currently shares a rented home in Wales where they have no servants and are reported to live much like any other middle class or wealthy couple.

They hope to continue like this once married – perhaps in part to lead a life more in touch with ordinary British people or to protect their privacy. Princess Diana, William’s Mum, was very publicly betrayed by her ex-butler Paul Burrel. Still no servants at all? It just doesn’t seem likely the future King and Queen of England will be washing each other’s socks in years to come.

The Public


Naturally the public is delighted about the events of the weekend. The wedding is to be held on Friday April 29, which has been designated as a public holiday. The following Monday is already a bank holiday and us ‘commoners’ can look forward to a four-day weekend.

The weekend before is already a four-day weekend thanks to Easter and so the country is surely to be in pretty relaxed mood. Expect wedding themed parties and events in home and across the country. As they say, any excuse…..

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