Prince William and Catherine

[Guest gauri92]

all the best to them....

i hope being part of a restrictive golden cage does not cause major problems for them and they are able to get through...

[Guest Fabiola]

Philip Treacy promises extravagant hats at royal wedding

19 April 2011

Designer Philip Treacy has revealed a number of guests will be wearing his hats at the wedding of Britain's Prince William to Kate Middleton next week and says no expense will be spared.

Milliner Philip Treacy is looking forward to seeing his designs at the royal wedding.

Lady Helen Taylor and Lady Gabriella Windsor

The Irish designer has been approached by a number of guests - reported to include Victoria Beckham and Lady Gabriella Windsor - who will attend the nuptials of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29 and Philip claims no expense has been spared to create the perfect headwear.

He said: "I won't be going but my hats are, and that's nice but it would be far too indiscreet of me to tell you who exactly, or what they are wearing."

Asked if guests are being restrained with their choices because of the current economic climate he said: "Oh no. You'll definitely be seeing some of them on the day."

The British designer has a secret studio in London where he was been receiving visits from important guests of the wedding such as the Duchess of Cornwall, who wore one of his creations during her nuptials to Prince Charles.

The milliner also has no reservations about putting younger members of the royal family such as Princess Eugenie in hats because he feels women of all ages can look fabulous in the right headwear.

He explained to Britain's Daily Telegraph: "I remember in the early nineties people saying the hat was just for old women, but that's ridiculous. Everyone has a head.

"A hat can make you feel special and young women look great in them."

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/royal_family/Philip+Treacy-54466.html

Lady Gabriella Marina Alexandra Ophelia Windsor

Lady Helen Marina Lucy Taylor

[Guest Fabiola]

Royal wedding: a love match that was meant to be

The story so far: how a shy, homesick young prince fell for his sporty home counties heroine.

By the romantic novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Both Prince William and Kate Middleton excelled at school as youngsters

They’re the hottest couple on the planet. They’re young, good-looking and in love. When they marry at Westminster Abbey on Friday an estimated two billion people worldwide will watch the royal wedding ceremony. She was born on January 9 1982 (a Capricorn) at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, the daughter of Carole and Michael Middleton, and christened Catherine Elizabeth at St Andrew’s Church.

He was born five months later on June 21 (a Gemini) at St Margaret’s Hospital in London, the first son of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace.

While “Baby Wales”, as his mother called him, was growing up in Kensington Palace with his younger brother, Harry, and attending Wetherby School, Kate was thriving. She lived in a semi-detached house in the village of Bradfield, and attended Bradfield Church of England Primary School.

After a brief interlude living in Jordan the family returned to Bradfield, then moved to Bucklebury when Kate was five. William’s early childhood was also a happy one. At Highgrove he enjoyed hunting, shooting and fishing with his father; with his mother and Harry he had marvellous adventures.

Kate left Downe House, a private school, in 1995 because she was bullied. Her parents sent her to Marlborough College. From then on she blossomed. Liked for her sense of fun, reliability and loyalty, she excelled at sports; her flair for acting won her the lead part in school plays.

As Kate came into her own at Marlborough, William went to Eton College. Shy and self-conscious, he was haunted by family troubles from the first day. Once his parents were divorced, things settled down. Like Kate, he was a diligent student, excelled at sports and made good friends.

In August of 1997 William and Harry went with their father to stay at Balmoral for their summer holiday. They were both asleep when Prince Charles woke them to break the devastating news that their mother had been killed in a car crash in Paris. Whatever Kate was doing on September 6 1997, more than likely she paused to watch the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, just as the rest of the world did. It was William who insisted he and Harry escort their mother’s coffin through London.

In 2000 Kate left Marlborough and William Eton. Both took a gap year. She spent the year travelling abroad, as did he. They both went to Chile, but at different times. Their first meeting took place in January of 2001 at the University of St Andrews, where they were reading art history. They met on the day William arrived, billeted to St Salvator’s Hall, known as St Sally’s. They got on well from the start, and quickly joined up with a former Etonian, Fergus Boyd, and Olivia Bleasdale and Ginny Fraser.

The romance began as a friendship; they were both involved with other people at the time. Kate sat with him for hours when he felt homesick, suggesting he must stop going home to Highgrove so much. When he wanted to leave St Andrews she persuaded him to stay.

William found Kate appealing. She was quieter than the other girls, shy, a little reticent, and he liked that. They usually had breakfast together; when William was forced to miss a lecture she took notes for him.

It was in March of 2002 that Kate stepped on to the catwalk at a student charity fashion show. She was wearing the now-famous dress (just sold at auction for £78,000). See-through black lace over skimpy black underwear supposedly caused William to exclaim to Fergus, “Wow, Kate’s hot!” She was discreet, but she could be daring.

By September of that year Kate was such a trusted friend that she was chosen to share a house off-campus in Hope Street with William, along with Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale. They all did the cleaning and cooking, or bought takeaways from Tesco. In the next two years their relationship became an open “secret”.

They attended each other’s birthday parties; seeking more privacy, they found a little farmhouse on a nearby estate, and rented it with Fergus. William and Kate took long walks; she cooked his dinner every night; their friends knew they had fallen in love. Some weekends were spent at Balmoral.

But even fairytale romances can have problems. In the summer of 2004 William told friends he needed space, and planned a yachting trip in Greece with a friend, Guy Pelly. Kate was annoyed when she discovered that Guy had arranged for an all-girl crew.

Accepting sage advice from her mother, Kate decided to give William some space. It worked. Within a few months they were back together.

Kate and William both graduated in the same ceremony in front of their families at St Andrews in June 2005. Their university days were over, and they both felt sad as they packed up the farmhouse.

William went to Sandhurst to begin his Army training in January 2006. Kate was not a career girl, and for a time she worked for her mother’s online business. But in November she got a job as an accessories buyer with Jigsaw, the fashion chain.

In December William graduated from Sandhurst. Looking stylish in a bright red coat and a chic black hat, Kate made heads turn with her appearance at the ceremony. She and her parents were given front-row VIP seats. Everyone believed that she was his permanent girlfriend. But trouble was brewing again. William felt that he was being pressured to propose to Kate, and believed that his Army career should come first.

In early 2007 William started a two-and-a-half-month course at Bovington Camp in Dorset. In March he and Kate took a skiing trip to Zermatt, but they were spending less time together. He explained that his training schedule would continue to keep him busy for months. Obviously, she was upset when William came to London and was seen in nightclubs, like Boujis in South Kensington, without her.

The relationship became increasingly difficult. The night William had been seen at Boujis had embarrassed Kate; she was humiliated again when he was photographed with an 18 year-old student in Bournemouth. Kate gave William an ultimatum. She needed a full commitment if they were to remain together. It backfired. William decided they should have a break from each other. They separated for the second time.

Kate pulled herself together. She was not going to feel sorry for herself. Instead, she put on a big smile and a stylish dress and went to a girls’ night party at Kitts nightclub in Chelsea to announce her single status again. She also joined Alicia Fox-Pitt and became part of the Sisterhood, a group of 21 girls planning to row from Dover to Cap Gris Nez to raise money for charity. Alicia put her at the helm of the boat.

But William and Kate were ready for a reconciliation. They spoke on the phone every day; they were missing each other. At this point Kate left the rowing team. She knew it would become a media circus because of William’s presence in her life again. In August William invited Kate to a fancy-dress party at his barracks in Bovington. That night he never left her side. They were back together once more.

The announcement that William wanted to join the RAF to become a search-and-rescue pilot in 2008 was unexpected. Kate was apparently stunned. But there was no break-up. She supported him. And waited.

When they announced their engagement last November the chemistry and happiness between them was obvious. While some were surprised by the news, others were not. Friends say they “pledged their troth” to each other in 2007, and that under the radar there have been holidays with her parents and visits to Birkhall, with Prince Charles’s house on the Balmoral estate. Since William became an RAF pilot they have been openly living together in a rented cottage in Anglesey near his base.

Today Kate looks radiant, never more beautiful. And chic. Some say she’s revived “the Sloane”. Certainly she’s a style icon. Whatever she wears sells out overnight. Sloane or not, she’s no longer “Waity Katie”. She’s the future Queen of England. She hasn’t put a foot wrong in seven and a half years. She got it right. “Whatever in love means”, to quote Prince Charles, Catherine has shown us.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8469789/Royal-wedding-a-love-match-that-was-meant-to-be.html

[Guest Fabiola]

Royal wedding: Williams who have ruled us

From conqueror to clown, a mixed review for the variety act of Prince William’s namesakes

By Philip Ziegler 12:00PM BST 25 Apr 2011

William I (1066 - 1087); William IV (1830 - 1837)

With the lamentable exception of William Rufus, King Williams have on the whole served England and the monarchy pretty well. Our Prince William can take some pride in, or at least not be too ashamed about, his predecessors of that ilk.

The first William, the Conqueror, in fact put the show on the road. The Anglo-Saxon kings who preceded him had only the most tentative grip on the fringes of their realm. William I created a nation. If you happened to be English and thus on the losing side it was not a particularly enjoyable experience, but it was still brutally effective.

William wiped out the indigenous aristocracy, installed a new and relatively docile ruling class and, by an extraordinary feat of organisation, symbolised by that miracle of administration, the Domesday Book, created something that was Norman in its leadership but recognisably England.

His younger son, William II, almost managed to undo his father’s work. Red in hair or complexion – nobody seems quite sure what the ''Rufus” referred to – he was still more bloodthirsty in disposition. His father had ruled harshly but first and foremost in the interests of good order and national security; William II was quite as harsh but was fuelled by rapacity and self-interest. He died in a hunting “accident”, more probably at the hands of Sir Walter Tyrrell. Tyrell claimed that he was not responsible but prudently fled the country.

After this distasteful interlude, William as a royal name disappeared for nearly 600 years. It was brought back by a Dutchman, William of Orange, who arrived at the head of an invading army. William III was thus a second Conqueror, but he came escorted by the flower of the English nobility who were heartily fed up with their Stuart monarch. James II was resolved to impose a return to Roman Catholicism on his subjects, regardless of their wishes; he thus forfeited the loyalty of the great majority of them and, since his daughter Mary had married the hereditary Stadtholder of the Netherlands, found himself deposed by his son-in-law.

In title William and Mary reigned jointly; though William did most of the ruling. More important than that, however, was what he did not do: the most significant point about his reign was that it ended for ever the pretensions of the monarch to wield anything approaching absolute power. The price that the great aristocrats exacted for installing William as their king was that they should be left to run the country as they thought best. William III did what little he could to restore royal authority but it was not enough; by the time his sister-in-law Anne succeeded to the throne, power had shifted irrevocably from the palace to the stately homes of England.

William III had witnessed the transfer of power from monarchy to aristocracy; William IV, some 130 years later, presided over the next phase in the slow march towards democracy. In his reign power shifted once again: from the aristocracy to the upper-middle, perhaps even the middle classes. William IV, the “Sailor King”, who as a young man had served under his and the nation’s hero, Horatio Nelson, is one of the most underrated of English monarchs.

He was uncouth, even clownish, unconcerned about matters intellectual or spiritual; but he had integrity, common sense, and a powerful conviction of his obligations as a constitutional monarch. If his elder brother, the more intelligent but far less sensible George IV, had been on the throne when the Great Reform Bill was making its turbulent way on to the statute book, he would undoubtedly have backed the diehard Tories and might well have provoked a revolution.

William IV detested the idea of reform but in the last resort realised that it was his duty to obey the will of what he accepted must be the vast majority of his subjects. By so doing he saved the nation and the monarchy.

If the future King William V – assuming that is how he wishes to be designated – decides to study the careers of any of those predecessors whose name he has inherited, his six times great uncle William IV would seem the most relevant. He was the first monarch to accept that it was his duty to work with the elected ministers of the day, regardless of whether they were to his taste or not.

George III and IV had felt no such obligation: they rarely sought to openly dismiss ministers whom they disliked but who commanded a majority in the House of Commons, yet they did everything in their power to undermine them and to replace them with substitutes more amenable to their will. Even William’s successor, Queen Victoria, was not above going what many people felt was improperly far to further the cause of her beloved Melbourne and Disraeli or to do down the abominable Gladstone.

William IV was not immaculate: his dislike of his more reforming ministers sometimes showed itself in ways that would seem deeply improper to today’s politicians. But, at the end of the day, he stuck by them: he has a legitimate claim to be considered Britain’s first truly constitutional monarch.

There is another point which Prince William would do well to ponder in any study of his ancestors. Three out of the four King Williams met a violent death: one was killed by an arrow, two as a result of falling from a horse. On the whole the risks involved in archery can be discounted but equitation is another matter. Horses are unruly and frequently malevolent; they are no respecters of princes. Prince William would do well to break from his family’s equine thrall and totally eschew them. Helicopters are far safer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8466617/Royal-wedding-Williams-who-have-ruled-us.html

[Guest Fabiola]

Royal wedding: previous Catherine queens and consorts

Kate Middleton won’t be the nation’s first Queen Catherine, so there is plenty for her to live up to – and to avoid

By Philippa Gregory, historical novelist 4:00PM BST 25 Apr 2011

Katherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536); Catherine of Braganza (1638 - 1705)

Catherine has not been a lucky name for English monarchs; the first Queen Catherine was widowed and disgraced, the next abandoned and divorced, one was beheaded and one infertile. But our future Queen Catherine, Kate Middleton, can be reassured that there are positive associations for the name, too. Every Queen Catherine was deeply loved by her husband (for a time, at least) – a rare event when marriages were arranged for policy reasons.

The first Queen Catherine of England was Catherine of Valois. A beautiful French princess, her betrothal to the warmongering Henry V of England was supposed to bring peace in the Hundred Years War. The heroic young King fell in love with his bride and married her in 1420 when she was 19. She conceived a son and heir almost at once, but Henry V, campaigning in France, died without seeing him.

Queen Catherine was a widow at 20 and, to safeguard the throne, laws were passed restricting whom she might marry. But a young widow is hard to repress. Catherine took a lover, Owen Tudor, and may have secretly wed the Welshman. They had five children including two boys, Edmund and Jasper. Edmund later married Margaret Beaufort and fathered Henry Tudor, who would invade England and put himself on the throne as Henry VII, the first Tudor king and founder of the line. Jasper Tudor was his loyal uncle who masterminded his success. It is almost impossible not to warm to Jasper Tudor; he was loyal to the doomed House of Lancaster when half the country had changed sides, and went into exile with his nephew to keep him safe from the victorious House of York. He returned to England with Henry Tudor for the Battle of Bosworth – an exemplary son of a wayward Catherine.

She did not live to see her grandson on the throne, dying in 1437 without ever admitting to either a marriage to Owen Tudor or the children by him. An interesting woman, but perhaps not a good example for her successor, Ms Middleton – unlike the next Queen Katherine, who was, in every way but the single most important one, a model queen.

Katherine of Aragon was Henry VIII’s first wife, a princess of Spain who came to England in 1501, aged 16, to marry Henry’s older brother Arthur. On the death of her young husband she endured seven years while her father-in-law, the hard-headed Henry VII, refused her an allowance and her own father refused to take her back. In 1509, on the death of Henry VII, the 18-year-old heir married his sister-in-law to safeguard the Spanish alliance.

It was a solution both romantic and practical. Henry VIII was in love with her and they spent 17 years happily together. If their son had survived beyond three months it is likely that Henry would have lived and died with one wife and not the legendary six. But Katherine’s inability to bear children full term, except for one girl, Mary Tudor, was an important failure. To secure the new Tudor dynasty Henry had to have a male heir. His questioning of their bad luck as parents, the arrival of Katherine’s menopause and the beautiful, young Anne Boleyn at court, proved more powerful than the Queen’s determined and courageous defence of her marriage.

Henry deserted Katherine and invented new rules for the church so he could grant his own divorce. After 24 years of marriage he declared himself free of her and went through a form of marriage with Anne. Three years later Katherine died in hardship without being allowed to see her daughter. She remains one of my favourite historical characters and in my novel The Constant Princess I explore how she was born into beauty and privilege but showed such courage when her prospects collapsed and she became an unwanted widow to a dead Prince.

As Henry’s Queen she led a cultivated and elegant court, and he respected her so much that he made her regent during an absence from England. What else is impressive about her? She introduced the meat-mad English to salad vegetables, which they had thought would poison them, and brought the Moorish delicacy of marmalade from her Spanish home.

Henry’s fifth wife and the most misguided choice of all his choices, was Katherine Howard, a granddaughter of the Duke of Norfolk. The ill-educated girl may have been just 15 (her birth date is uncertain) when she married the King, who was 49. He called her his “rose without a thorn” and ordered a day of national thanksgiving for her. Brought up in her grandmother’s household, Katherine was possibly as young as 11 when she was subjected to some kind of sexual contact with her music teacher. She was 14 or so when Francis Dereham performed a secret betrothal, and bedded her. When Katherine became Queen, Dereham obtained a place in her household and told his colleagues that he had ''known’’ Her Majesty.

An inquiry into his boasting led the Archbishop of Canterbury to discover that, although Dereham belonged to the young Queen’s past, she was now having secret assignations with Thomas Culpepper, one of the King’s most favoured young companions. Undoubtedly Katherine was passionately in love with Culpepper (she wrote to him: ''It makes my heart die to think what fortune I have that I cannot always be in your company’’) and took risks to be with him. Historians who describe her as a foolish girl or even a ''richard simmons’’ fail to make allowance for her youth and her lack of guidance.

Accused by the Archbishop; with no advice from her family, who were in a scramble to save themselves; abandoned by Henry, who fell into murderous rage and devastating self-pity; Katherine confessed to adultery and was executed at 18.

Henry’s last wife, Catherine Parr, was born a commoner, and had been widowed twice before. She was probably in love with the glamorous Thomas Seymour (brother to Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife) when the king proposed. Bad-tempered and grossly obese, Henry was poor husband material but could not be refused. Catherine Parr was a good stepmother to his three children (Mary, Elizabeth and Edward) and was so well-regarded by Henry early on in the marriage that he appointed her as regent and Edward’s guardian. A scholarly Protestant, she survived her husband and married Thomas Seymour in secret six months after the death of the King, dying in childbirth shortly after.

The last of our historic Catherines is Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of the King of Portugal. She was married to Charles II, a king more renowned for the love of his mistresses, Nell Gwynn among them, than his wife. Catherine’s devotion to the Roman Catholic religion was unpopular in her new country, which was now staunchly Protestant, but most people were prepared to overlook doctrinal differences for the benefits of an alliance in Europe. Her dowry included Bombay, which was England’s first foothold in India.

One of the more engaging traits of Charles II was his loyalty to his Queen. Though he was openly unfaithful he refused to consider a divorce, even when Parliament went through one of its anti-Papist panics. Catherine outlived her husband, making her home at Somerset House in London while her brother-in-law James II briefly took the throne before losing it to an alliance of the Protestant Whig lords. The dowager queen returned to Portugal, where she served as regent in the place of her brother until her death.

Kate Middleton, or Catherine as she prefers to be known, has two other similarities to her royal forebears – a discrepancy over spelling. Like her predecessors the C and K versions are used interchangeably. Katherine of Aragon was Catalina in Spain but her initial in her shared crest with Henry is a K; Katherine.

And in one of those funny little coincidences that history sometimes throws up, there is another similarity between Kate Middleton and a previous royal Kate. Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt who married Henry III of Spain to become Queen Catherine of Castile, had a half-sister Philippa, just as Kate’s sister is named Philippa and nicknamed Pippa. I have always thought it a good name myself.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8466620/Royal-wedding-previous-Catherine-queens-and-consorts.html

[summerdamsel]

the anticipation is rising and i did google a bit. i wanted to find out about the background of kate middleton but instead i found some of the prince's ex-girlfriends. lol.

Trivia: Kate & William are 12th cousins once removed.

Rose Farquhar - The First Love. Rose, who is the daughter of Captain Ian Farquhar, Master of the Beaufort Hunt, were childhood friends with William. They remained close..

I think she looks a bit like William

Arabella Musgrave - His girlfriend before he went to University. She's a PR employee for Gucci, dated Prince William in 2001 after meeting at a polo match. While the two have remained close over the years, Arabella and William broke up because William was going to be going to St. Andrews.

She looks like Kate Middleton. o_o

Carly Massy-Birch - Carly was William's first girlfriend at St. Andrews. She is a country girl, and that is what William liked about her. Their romantic involvement ended over Prince William's contact with former girlfriend, Arabella Musgrave.

Although Kate was voted the prettiest girl in Sally's, Carly was considered as the best girl.

Olivia Hunt - Olivia Hunt started dating William when they were attending St. Andrews. When William first saw Kate at the "Don't Walk" fashion show for charity, where Kate was wearing a black lace dress, William and Olivia were still together. But by April 2002, their relationship was over, and Prince William soon began seeing Kate.

Jecca Craig - Rumored to be dating Prince William in 2003. The official staff of William denied in a press release the two were dating, but it has been reported that William and Jecca pretended to be engaged while staying at her parent's compound in Kenya.

Isabella Calthorpe - The Dream Girl. She has all the credentials to be a princess and the media once dubbed her as William's future bride. She is of royal blood, beautiful, rich and mostly, it was said that Prince William's head-over-heels infatuated with her. Not only that Prince Charles was delighted to have her over at Highgrove and was said to have approved of her. She would've probably been the future princess.. if only she gave William a chance. She's a free spirit and if William probably wasn't a prince, they would've been together.

"William was madly in love with her (Isabella) but when he knew there was no chance of them getting together he went back to Kate. Kate was very aware of his obsession with Isabella and she was incredibly threatened by her. Isabella is drop-dead beautiful and would leave any girl in the shade. Kate accepted William back again but on the condition that he would not speak to Isabella."

Of course, all of this is probably just 10% true.

[Guest whizzer's_rose]

Royal wedding: previous Catherine queens and consorts

Kate Middleton won’t be the nation’s first Queen Catherine, so there is plenty for her to live up to – and to avoid

By Philippa Gregory, historical novelist 4:00PM BST 25 Apr 2011

*quoted image*

Katherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536); Catherine of Braganza (1638 - 1705)

Katherine of Aragon was Henry VIII’s first wife, a princess of Spain who came to England in 1501, aged 16, to marry Henry’s older brother Arthur. On the death of her young husband she endured seven years while her father-in-law, the hard-headed Henry VII, refused her an allowance and her own father refused to take her back. In 1509, on the death of Henry VII, the 18-year-old heir married his sister-in-law to safeguard the Spanish alliance.

It was a solution both romantic and practical. Henry VIII was in love with her and they spent 17 years happily together. If their son had survived beyond three months it is likely that Henry would have lived and died with one wife and not the legendary six. But Katherine’s inability to bear children full term, except for one girl,

Henry deserted Katherine and invented new rules for the church so he could grant his own divorce. After 24 years of marriage he declared himself free of her and went through a form of marriage with Anne. Three years later Katherine died in hardship without being allowed to see her daughter. She remains one of my favourite historical characters and in my novel The Constant Princess I explore how she was born into beauty and privilege but showed such courage when her prospects collapsed and she became an unwanted widow to a dead Prince.

As Henry’s Queen she led a cultivated and elegant court, and he respected her so much that he made her regent during an absence from England. What else is impressive about her? She introduced the meat-mad English to salad vegetables, which they had thought would poison them, and brought the Moorish delicacy of marmalade from her Spanish home.

Kate Middleton, or Catherine as she prefers to be known, has two other similarities to her royal forebears – a discrepancy over spelling. Like her predecessors the C and K versions are used interchangeably. Katherine of Aragon was Catalina in Spain but her initial in her shared crest with Henry is a K; Katherine.

And in one of those funny little coincidences that history sometimes throws up, there is another similarity between Kate Middleton and a previous royal Kate. Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt who married Henry III of Spain to become Queen Catherine of Castile, had a half-sister Philippa, just as Kate’s sister is named Philippa and nicknamed Pippa. I have always thought it a good name myself.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8466620/Royal-wedding-previous-Catherine-queens-and-consorts.html

AMAZING indeed, I have read and have a copy of Philipa Gregory's Constant Princess about Catherine of Aragon. To add up to the similarity, Catherine was married to Crown Prince Arthur which is also the William's second name. Arthur has a younger brother named Henry which is Harry's real name (he became Henry VIII) Arthur died because of weak health and it was always a debate whether or not the marriage between Arthur and Catherine was consummated thus making her marriage later on to Harry invalid. Though the book was fictionalized-the young love between Catherine and Arthur was really bittersweet

[Guest nana544]

aww how nice it is to marry a Prince . I'm so happy for them...may they forever be happy and lead a good life . Kate is very beautiful and Prince William is quite handsome; I think he look more like Princess Diana ; oh she was gorgeous!

[cassiopeia1001]

Ahh, Diana.

When I was little I used to confuse her with Cinderella. LOL.

But honestly, William looks pretty average.

[Guest Fabiola]

Royal wedding flowers sourced from Windsor Great Park

The Middleton family's florist, Emma Sampson, and Mark Flanagan, Keeper of the Gardens at Great Windsor Park, make their final preparations for the royal couple's big day.

5:38PM BST 26 Apr 2011

The Middleton family's florist, Emma Sampson, and Shane Connolly, the

royal wedding florist, walk in Windsor Great Park, the source of many of

the flowers and plants for the big day in Westminster Abbey.

The majority of the flowers for the royal wedding will come from Windsor Great Park's Valley Gardens, a flowering forest in Surrey.

Miss Middleton is said to have a keen interest in the language of flowers, a communication means in the Victorian era when flowers were used to send coded messages to express unspoken emotions.

Although the bouquet is top-secret, many flowers used in the abbey embellishments are symbols of romance and may well be used for the bridal bunch.

The Solomon's Seal, to be sourced from Sandringham, symbolises confirmation of love and will be used alongside azaleas, the Chinese symbol of femininity, lilacs, which represent first love, and blossoms, signifying spiritual beauty.

Other blooms being used include rhododendron, euphorbias, beech and wisteria.

Valley Gardens was planted under the patronage of George VI and has continued links to the royal family.

The "Catherine" and "Royal William" roses, named after Kate Middleton and Prince William have been planted in neighbouring flowerbeds in a unique royal rose garden to mark the couple's wedding on April 29.

The Royal William: "This exceptional hybrid tea

voted 1987 Rose of the Year, has lovely dark red

blooms with a velvety sheen throughout the summer

and autumn. Attractive foliage which is semi-glossy

dark green and disease resistant. A strong and

healthy grower and after growing to approx 4ft is

the perfect rose for cutting, " says Greenhead

Nursery.

"To celebrate the Royal Wedding, a special

Catherine Rose – a stunning pale pink variety –

has been introduced by Focus DIY, in honour of Kate

Middleton, William s blushing bride-to-be."

—AboutProperty.com

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/royal-wedding-video/8474583/Royal-wedding-flowers-sourced-from-Windsor-Great-Park.html

[Guest Fabiola]

Royal Wedding florist keeps things green

By Maria Puente, USA TODAY

Apr 27, 2011

08:53 AM

We're still in the dark about the dress but now we know the name of Prince William and Kate Middleton's florist for their Friday wedding: London-based floral designer Shane Connolly, a native of Northern Ireland.

He'll be directing a team of florists, including flower wranglers from Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, plus florists chosen by the couple, to create the floral displays at the Abbey and Palace.

The couple chose Connolly because he's known as a "green" florist, so to speak. According to the royal wedding website, he is known for his sustainable approach to floristy, using growing, rather than cut, plants and trees, and for producing "elegant and unique displays" using seasonal, natural and organic flowers.

William and Kate have taken a "close interest" in the designs on a theme of the "Language of Flowers," which follows the theme of decoration on the wedding cake by cakemaker to the grand and famous, Fiona Cairns.The floral displays in the Abbey will include eight 20 feet-high trees - TV news reports late Tuesday showed workmen carting some of the trees inside planters (designed by Connolly and made by craftsmen at Highgrove, Prince Charles' residence in Gloucestershire) into the abbey.

Florist designer Shane Connolly poses by an English field maple tree

placed inside Westminster Abbey in London in preparation for the

royal wedding.

After the wedding, the flowers will be left in the abbey for viewing until May 6. Then the trees will be taken to Highgrove's gardens for planting. The plan is to donate many of the cut plants and flowers and all the growing plants to charities or re-planted.

Workers place an English field maple tree in Westminster Abbey in

preparation for the royal wedding.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/livefrom/post/2011/04/royal-wedding-florist-goes-keeps-things-green/1

[Guest Fabiola]

Royal wedding: Will Kate Middleton wear a tiara?

Even if the couple wants the occasion to be "the people's wedding", Kate Middleton must look like a princess. I think we can be assured that she will wear a tiara, writes Carol Woolto.

24 April 2011

The Russian Fringe, a diamond tiara has been worn by Queen Mary,

the Queen Mother, the Queen and the Princess Royal

She may wear one borrowed from the Queen . The Russian Fringe, a diamond tiara, was worn by Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Queen and the Princess Royal.

the Spencer Family Tiara

However, the Queen gave all her daughters-in-law a tiara as a gift on their wedding day. ( Princess Diana opted instead for the Spencer family tiara.) Perhaps she will extend this tradition.

the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara

As Prince William and Prince Harry inherited their mother's jewels, Kate may choose to wear one of Diana's tiaras. A favourite of hers was a pearldrop tiara, the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara. Pearls - young and fresh - have good associations for a bride.

This week there have been rumours that Kate had wanted to wear flowers in her hair, but that Camilla had put a stop to that.

I think the tiara and the engagement ring will be as far as Kate goes on the day in terms of jewels. She may wear some stud earrings but they'll be very simple.

Going forward, perhaps Kate will start commissioning pieces herself. Jewellery lasts for generations - far longer than any dress. It could be her legacy.

Carol Woolton is jewellery editor of British 'Vogue'

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8470706/Royal-wedding-Will-Kate-Middleton-wear-a-tiara.html

[Guest fionarhz]

awww i miss diana! wonder what she would've said about kate and the wedding =[[[

[Guest Fabiola]

April 29, 2011: As the pealing bells of Westminster Abbey reverberated across London, the newly named Duke of Cambridge and his wife, Catherine Middleton, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, were married today in front of a worldwide audience.

Kate wore a 1936 diamond Cartier tiara loaned to her by the Queen.

The bride's dress was a traditional ivory silk and satin outfit with a lace applique and flowing train, a design by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.

Prince William and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, wave as they travel in the 1902 State Landau carriage to Buckingham Palace

William and Kate seal wedding with balcony kisses

Hundreds of thousands of people waving flags and banners poured down London's Mall boulevard to cheer the newlyweds.

[Guest Fabiola]

DETAILS OF THE BRIDESMAID AND PAGEBOY OUTFITS

THE PAGEBOYS

The pageboys were dressed in the Regency-style red tunic of a Foot Guards officer, echoing William's formal Irish Guards attire.

Tom Pettifer, eight, and Billy Lowther-Pinkerton, ten, wore red jackets with gold braiding with buttons arranged in fours, representing the Irish - or Fourth - Regiment of Foot Guards.

They have Irish shamrocks on the collars and the buttons feature the Harp of Ireland surmounted by the Crown Imperial.

The boys wore ivory breeches with white stockings and black buckle shoes in accordance with tradition.

The look is completed by a gold and crimson tasselled sash around the waist, usually worn by officers in the Irish Guards when in the presence of a Member of the Royal Family.

The collars and cuffs were created by the Royal School of Needlework.

THE BRIDESMAIDS

As a special memento, each of the four girls have had their name and the date of the wedding hand-embroidered on to the lining of their dresses.

Echoing Kate's dress, they were made using the same fabrics.

The full, box pleated skirt was used to add a sculptural quality, with the layering of ivory over white satin gazar adding depth of colour.

The dresses were hand-finished with delicate English Cluny lace, visible under the skirts, and four layers of net underskirt.

The puff sleeves and neckline were trimmed with the same English lace as the bride's underskirt, while the backs were finished with the same button detail.

The sashes were made of pale gold wild silk, tucked at the front and tied at the back in a sumptuous bow.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1381873/Royal-Wedding-Pippa-Middleton-mirrors-Kates-dress-white-Alexander-McQueen.html

The Wedding's Most Adorable Attendants

What they lacked in height and age, they made up for in charm and pure cuteness. Meet the pint-size bridesmaids and pages!

[Guest Fabiola]

McQueen wedding gown gets rave reviews

Karl Lagerfed, Chanel: 'She is very elegant. The dress is classic and goes very well in the Westminster decor. It almost reminds me of Elizabeth's wedding, the royal weddings in the Fifties. The proportion of the train is good. The lace is very pretty. I like the veil a lot.'

Bruce Oldfield: 'Catherine needed the volume of the skirt, both to emphasise her tiny waist and to give the dress a sense of importance, I also liked the nod towards a bustle. It all helped towards an appropriately traditional gown.'

Hubert de Givenchy: 'The veil is a little flat, but because she has such a lovely face, she can afford to wear it this way. She is very pretty.'

Christian Lacroix: 'I like the dress very much, simpler than expected: a combination just in between 1956 Grace Kelly and 1947 Queen Elizabeth dress. I love the modest veil with the Queen Mother's Thirties scroll tiara and balanced volume of the whole gown. She's radiant; she never was so beautiful.'

Elie Saab: 'It was a very elegant dress, subtly refined and discreet, in keeping with her style," Elie Saab added. "I would have liked it even more with a little extra volume and a longer train.'

Donatella Versace: 'Kate's dress was beautiful. She looked very regal.'

Peter Copping of Nina Ricci: 'Very much in a royal tradition, reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth's - and a little bit Grace Kelly. She looks happy, radiant and natural.'

Antonio Marras of Kenzo: 'McQueen was a brilliant choice. The choice of the label and the style of the dress was a very clever mix between edgy fashion and tradition - all in a very British way. You could see references to Grace Kelly or Queen Elizabeth's dresses, but in a simpler, more modern way. I loved her hair down. It looked perfectly natural and noble. Truly royal.'

Oscar de la Renta: 'She had a perfect dress, a very traditional dress for a very traditional wedding. What I liked about it was, it was not ostentatious. There was not 50 meters of train, and it was not overembroidered. It was just a very traditional dress for a ravishing girl who doesn’t need a lot.'

Narciso Rodriguez: 'What struck me as so beautiful about Kate’s dress is it reminded me of Grace Kelly’s dress, even though it was different. Those dresses are moments in time that are timeless.'

Carolina Herrera: 'She knows exactly what looks good on her.'

Vera Wang: 'Diana’s dress had a sense of innocence, whimsy, almost storybook romance. In contrast Catherine’s gown was about way more than simply the dress. Sarah Burton channeled a new take on classicism for a modern-day bride who will one day be queen.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1381851/Royal-Wedding-2011-Kate-Middleton-marries-Prince-William-dress-designed-McQueens-Sarah-Burton.html

Kate Middleton Wears the Cartier Halo Tiara

by Rebecca Sacks April 29, 2011, 6:45 AM

Kate Middleton chose to wear the Cartier “halo” tiara, which was made in 1936 and purchased by the Duke of York (later King George VI) for his wife, Elizabeth's mother (also Elizabeth). Queen Elizabeth received it as an 18th-birthday present, at which time she was Princess Elizabeth. The delicate headpiece, which is as understated as a headband of diamonds can be, was lent to Kate by the Queen, though there's a chance she'll come into one of her own soon: the Queen’s 1981 wedding gift to Diana was the Cambridge Lovers’ Knot Tiara. Diana wore a Spencer-family tiara to her wedding.

Kate’s earrings, custom-made by Robinson Pelham to match her tiara, were a present from her parents. The earrings, with acorn motifs, was inspired by the fresh, new Middleton-family crest. Pelham also designed the more floral earrings worn by the other lady in white—maid of honor Pippa Middleton.

Kate's wedding ring, which seemed to have given William a bit of difficulty in the slipping on, is a band of Welsh gold by Wartski, which also crafted Welsh-gold wedding bands for Prince Charles and Camilla.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/04/kate-middletons-tasteful-tiara.html

[Guest Fabiola]

License to thrill drive for newly wed royal couple

LONDON | Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:31am EDT

(Reuters) - Britain's Prince William surprised well-wishers with a James Bond moment outside Buckingham Palace on Friday by driving past with his new bride in a vintage Aston Martin convertible after a wedding reception.

William drove the blue car with a "JU5T WED" number plate out of the gates of Queen Elizabeth's central London home to loud cheers from the crowd. His wife Kate Middleton, in the passenger seat, waved to the thousands of well-wishers.

The car -- whose marque was made famous by the fictional British spy James Bond -- also had an "L" or learner plate fixed to its front in a nod to the couple's newlywed status and was festooned with balloons.

William was driving his bride to nearby St James Palace so that Middleton could change for the evening festivities.

A royal official said the car, an Aston Martin Volante, belonged to William's father Prince Charles and was converted to run on E85 bioethanol, made from English wine wastage.

"He's had it for 30 odd years and he thought it was a lovely idea to offer it to him to drive back," the official said.

William and Middleton married at Westminster Abbey on Friday in a sumptuous show of British pageantry that attracted a huge world audience and breathed new life into the monarchy.

(Reporting by Michael Holden and Marie-Louise Gumuchian, editing by Paul Casciato)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/29/us-britain-wedding-car-idUSTRE73S4FK20110429

[Guest Fabiola]

Everyone who's anyone was at royal wedding

Queen Sofia of Spain and the Prince and Princess of the Asturias, Felipe and Letizia

King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes

Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of

Greece and Prince Constantine of Greece

The Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland

Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of Netherland and

Princess Maxima

The Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg, Henri and Maria Teresa

Prince Albert II of Monaco and Miss Charlene Wittstock

Prime Minister David Cameron and wife Samantha Cameron

Lady Helen Taylor and Mr. Timothy Taylor

Viscount David Linley, Viscountess Serena Linley

Princess Michael of Kent, Prince Michael Of Kent

Lord Frederick Windsor, Lady Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Windsor

Earl Charles Spencer and Karen Gordon

Lady Amelia Spencer, Lady Eliza Spencer and Lady Kitty Spencer

Chelsy Davy

Former British Prime Minister John Major and Norma Major

Australian Olympian Ian Thorpe

David and Victoria Beckham

[Guest liquidrose]

idk why ppl care so much about some1ns weddings

[Guest AAgurl789]

idk why ppl care so much about some1ns weddings

because it's a royal wedding! =p sike nah though, I'm sure that if your favorite singer, etc. got married, you would be thrilled too. I think the wedding has so much hype since it's easy to sell "beautiful lowborn princess marries her charming prince" on front covers...it's something positive admist all of the silly "bad" tabloids, etc...it's a great way to escape reality..just like how men escape their boring jobs by watching sports.

but YES..I am SOOOO happy the wedding is over since I'm sick of hearing about kate and the wedding!!!

and was anyone else thinking that pippa's dress could rival the bride's dress? (kate's dress is very beautiful too..but fashion blogs are saying that pippa outshined Kate...) I mean I would NEVER let my bridesmaid wear white (royal weddings or not). Not to mention, she was probably the only one at the royal wedding that showed the most skin and body hugging dress while everyone else stayed with neutral colors and longer sleeves, etc...hmm...yeah. >_< ouch!

apparently, bridesmaid can dress in white at royal weddings..however, I'll make her bridesmaid wear a burlap white sack =p