Prince William married Kate Middleton in regal splendour at Westminster Abbey on Friday as huge crowds and a global TV audience watched Britain’s monarchy pin its hopes on a new generation. In the biggest royal celebration for three decades, Kate, wearing an ivory and white satin wedding dress with long lace sleeves, a veil and a flowing train, exchanged vows with William, who wore a scarlet military tunic. William, 28, mouthed “You look beautiful” to his bride after she walked up the aisle.
After the couple said their vows, in which Kate Middleton did not promise to obey William, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams declared, “I pronounce them man and wife, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” Prince William has been given the title of the Duke of Cambridge by the Queen, and Middleton has become Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. According to police, more than a million people lined the procession route to Buckingham Palace, the official residence of the British royal family as the couple emerged from Westminster Abbey.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, former British prime minister Sir John Major and Home Secretary Theresa May were among the politicians present. Former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordan Brown were not invited to the wedding ceremony. Of the 1,900 guests invited to the wedding, 1,000 were friends and family while others included overseas royals, politicians from home and abroad, military personnel and representatives from various faiths and charities.
To mark the day, the British government had already declared Friday a national holiday and thousands of street parties had been organised across Britain to celebrate the wedding of the future king. Two billion people – a third of the world’s population – are expected to have watched Diana’s eldest son wed the commoner he began dating at St Andrews University in Scotland eight years ago. It is Britain’s richest display of pageantry since that wedding 30 years ago and offers Britain’s royal family a chance at renewal after Charles and Diana’s traumatic public split before her tragic death.
Hundreds of thousands of campers transformed The Mall, the wide boulevard leading to Buckingham Palace, into a sea of Union Jack flags. After the service, the newlyweds climbed into a horse-drawn open carriage to make the journey from the abbey to Buckingham Palace where the couple followed tradition by appearing on the balcony with the royal family and exchanged two kisses.
Fairytale comes true…
