Buckingham Palace party

(England Twitter)-Garden is the setting for the many Royal Garden Parties held by the Queen each summer. However, guests, while numerous and from all stations in life, are usually those who hold a public position, or are in some way of national interest. In 2008, three parties are for nominated members of the public; and four parties for Centenary of the Royal Charter to British Red Cross, the Territorial Army, the 'Not Forgotten' Association and for those attending the Lambeth Conference.

The guests take tea and sandwiches in marquees erected in the Garden. As a military band plays the National Anthem, the Queen emerges from the Bow Room and slowly processes through the ranks of assembled guests towards her own private tea tent, greeting those previously selected for the honour.

Big Royal Dig

Buckingham Palace Garden was one of three royal sites excavated over 25–28 August 2006 by the Time Team of archaeologists led by Tony Robinson. The results were televised, with some live streaming.

Timed to help celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (along with many other events ongoing throughout 2006), this marked Time Team's 150th dig. For the first time, the Queen gave permission for trenches to be dug in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. The Big Royal Dig is an example of the Queen opening up her homes for greater access to the public, as she did during her Golden Jubilee Weekend in 2002 and throughout 2006 for her birthday.

The archaeologists had an unprecedented opportunity to probe the geophysics and history of three royal residences over a four-day period, with teams working concurrently in the three locations.

Henry Wise's ornamental canal for Buckingham House

Buckingham House, a precursor of the Palace, was built in 1703 by the Duke of Buckingham. This graphic reconstruction shows Buckingham House from the Garden side towards the West Front, i.e. looking at the rear of today's Palace.

The archaeologists managed to uncover the original ornamental canal constructed by Henry Wise which ran westwards from the West Front of Buckingham House. (A surviving contemporary letter from the Duke of Buckingham to the Duke of Shrewsbury was instrumental in determining the canal's dimensions and thus the site for excavation.) The ornamental canal was the highlight of the garden, running straight down it, bordered by rows of trees. The parterre close to the house was flanked by formal gardens which continued as a row of trees bordering the canal. People sitting in the grandest rooms in the middle of the house would have enjoyed a most pleasing view.

Garden during the English Civil War

During the Civil War (1642-1651) London was Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian military centre, Royalist support for Charles I being based in Oxford. Goring Great Garden, as the Garden was then known, was the scene of defensive Parliamentarian earthworks - a situation whose irony Tony Robinson savoured, given the current Royal ownership. Anticipating some richly embarrassing finds, the television coverage featured a reenactment of a Roundhead (i.e., Republican) march on the great lawn.

Other finds

Robinson hoped to unearth evidence of Parliamentarian fortifications and a redoubt from the Civil War in the Garden, but in the event, no trace of Civil War Parliamentarian defenses was found. However, there were a number of 17th-century finds, including a possible button from Civil War uniform, a clay pipe, and a 17th-century trade token possibly from the pub The Swan on the Strand.

Additionally, evidence of the river Tyburn, which still runs below the Palace, was discovered. Other objects found included a diamond earring, dating to the Victorian era, and a 6,000-year-old Mesolithic flint blade.

Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer

(England Twitter)-Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Stillwood Frances Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, United Kingdom. Their marriage was widely billed as a "fairytale wedding" and the "wedding of the century". It was watched by a global television audience of 750 million. The United Kingdom had a national holiday on that day to mark the wedding. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.

Engagement

Prince Charles, who had known Diana for several years, took a serious interest in her as a potential bride during the summer of 1980, when they were guests at a country weekend, where she watched him play polo. The relationship developed as he invited her for a sailing weekend to Cowes aboard the royal yacht Britannia, followed by an invitation to Balmoral Castle, the Windsor family's Scottish home, to meet his family. Diana was well received at Balmoral by Queen Elizabeth II, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Queen Mother. The couple then had several dates in London. Diana and Charles had been seeing each other for about six months when he proposed on 3 February 1981 at a dinner for two at Buckingham Palace. He knew she planned a holiday for the next week, and hoped she would use the time to consider her answer. Diana accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for the next few weeks.

Their engagement became official on 24 February 1981, after Diana selected a large £30,000 ring consisting of 14 diamonds surrounding a blue sapphire which was previously gifted to Queen Elizabeth II by the president of Sri Lanka, J. R. Jayewardene. Diana's first son, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge gave Diana's ring to Kate Middleton as an engagement ring. Many copies of the ring have been made in both well-established jewellery shops and high-street fashion chains.

Wedding

There were 3,500 people in the congregation at St Paul's Cathedral. It was held at St Paul's rather than Westminster Abbey because St Paul's offered more seating and permits a longer procession through the streets of London. The service was a traditional Church of England wedding service, presided over by the Most Reverend Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Very Reverend Alan Webster, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. Another 750 million people watched the ceremony worldwide, making it the most popular programme ever broadcast, and this figure rose to a billion when the radio audience is added in.Two million spectators lined the route of Diana's procession from Clarence House, with 4,000 police and 2,200 military officers to manage the crowds.

Regiments from the Commonwealth realms participated in the procession, including the Royal Regiment of Canada.

Lady Diana arrived at the cathedral in the Glass Coach with her father, John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, escorted by five mounted military police officers. She arrived almost on time for the 11:20 BST ceremony. The carriage was too small to comfortably hold the two of them in her dress and train. She made the three-and-a-half minute walk up the red-carpeted aisle with the sumptuous 25 ft (8 m) train of gown behind her.

Clothing

Diana's wedding dress, valued at £9000 (£25,713 as of 2011), was a puff ball meringue wedding dress, with huge puffed sleeves and a frilly neckline. The dress was made of silk taffeta, decorated with lace, hand embroidery, sequins, and 10,000 pearls. It was designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel and had a 25-foot train of ivory taffeta and antique lace. Charles wore his full dress naval commander uniform.

Attendants

They had seven bridal attendants: Lord Nicholas Windsor (aged 11) (son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent) and Edward van Cutsem (aged 8) (both godsons of the Prince of Wales) were pageboys; the bridesmaids were Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (age 17), the Earl of Snowdon and Princess Margaret's daughter; India Hicks (aged 13) granddaughter of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma and daughter of David and Lady Pamela Hicks; Catherine Cameron (aged 6), daughter of Donald and Lady Cecil Cameron, granddaughter of the Marquess of Lothian; Sarah-Jane Gaselee (aged 11), daughter of Nick Gaselee and his wife; and Clementine Hambro (aged 5), daughter of Rupert Hambro and the Hon Mrs Hambro (now The Countess Peel), granddaughter of Lord and Lady Soames and great-granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill. HRH The Prince Andrew (aged 21) and HRH The Prince Edward (aged 17) were the Prince of Wales' supporters (the equivalent of "best man" for a royal wedding).

Royal guests

TH The Aga Khan IV and Begum Salimah (Aga Khan IV and Princess Salimah Aga Khan)

TGDH Prince Ludwig and Princess Marianne of Baden (Ludwig, husband of Marianne, is the son of Berthold, Margrave of Baden)

TM The King and Queen of the Belgians (Baudouin of Belgium and Fabiola of Belgium)

TM The King & Queen of the Bulgarians (in exile - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela)

HM The Queen & HRH Prince Henrik of Denmark (Margrethe II of Denmark and Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark)

HH Prince Georg of Denmark (Prince George Valdemar of Denmark)

HM The King of the Hellenes (in exile - Constantine II of Greece

HRH The Crown Prince of Greece (Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece)

HRH Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark (Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark)

HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark (Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark)

TRH Prince Georg Wilhelm and Princess Sofia of Hanover (Prince George William of Hanover and Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark)

HRH Prince Georg of Hanover (Prince Georg of Hanover)

TH Prince Karl and Princess Yvonne of Hesse

HH Princess Christina of Hesse and Mr. Robert van Eyck

HH Princess Dorothea of Hesse and HSH Prince Friedrich Karl zu Windisch-Grätz

HSH Princess Marina zu Windisch-Grätz

HRH The Princess of Hesse and by Rhine

TSH Prince Kraft and Princess Charlotte zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg)

TSH Prince Andreas and Princess Luise zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg

TSH Prince Albrecht and Princess Maria-Hildegard zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg

HSH Princess Beatrix zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg

TIH The Crown Prince & Crown Princess of Japan (Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko)

TRH The Crown Prince & Crown Princess of Jordan (Prince Hassan of Jordan and Princess Sarvath El Hassan)

HM The Queen Mother of Lesotho (mother of Moshoshoe II)

TSH The Prince & Princess of Liechtenstein (Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein and Countess Georgina von Wilczek)

TRH The Grand Duke & Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium)

HSH The Princess of Monaco (Grace Kelly)

HSH The Hereditary Prince of Monaco (Albert II, Prince of Monaco)

TRH Prince Gyanendra & Princess Komal of Nepal (Gyanendra of Nepal and Queen Komal of Nepal)

HM The Queen & HRH Prince Claus of the Netherlands (Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prince Claus of the Netherlands)

HM The King of Norway (Olav V of Norway)

TRH The Crown Prince & Crown Princess of Norway (Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja of Norway)

TM The King & Queen of Romania (in exile - Michael of Romania and Queen Anne of Romania)

TM The King & Queen of Sweden (Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Silvia of Sweden)

Princess Margaretha & Mr. John Ambler (Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler)

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand (Sirindhorn)

TM The King & Queen of Tonga (Taufa'ahau Tupou IV)

HH The Malietoa of Western Samoa (Malietoa Tanumafili II)

HRH The Crown Prince of Yugoslavia (in exile - Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia)

TRH Prince Tomislav and Princess Margarita of Yugoslavia (Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia and Princess Margarita of Baden)

HRH Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia (Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia)

HRH Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia (daughter of Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia)

HRH Prince Hristifor of Yugoslavia (son of Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia}

HRH Princess Marija Tatjana of Yugoslavia (daughter of Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia)

HRH Princess Olga of Yugoslavia (Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark - widow of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia)

TRH Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and his second wife Princess Barbara of Liechtenstein

HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

(England Twitter)-Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark; 10 June 1921) is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is Britain's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning monarch.

A member of the Danish-German House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Prince Philip was born into the Greek and Danish royal families, but his family was exiled from Greece when he was a child. After being educated in Germany and Britain, at the age of 18 he joined the British Royal Navy, enrolling at Dartmouth Naval College. It was during this time he began corresponding with Elizabeth, the eldest daughter and heir presumptive of King George VI. During World War II he served with the Mediterranean and Pacific fleets.

After the war, Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Elizabeth. Prior to the official engagement announcement, he renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and became a naturalised British subject, adopting the surname Mountbatten from his British maternal grandparents. After an official engagement of five months, as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten he married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947. On his marriage, he was granted the style of His Royal Highness and the title of Duke of Edinburgh by his father-in-law. Philip left active service, having reached the rank of Commander, when Elizabeth became Queen in 1952. His wife made him a Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957.

Philip has four children with Elizabeth, with both Charles and Anne being born before her accession to the throne, Andrew and Edward after. Through an Order-in-Council issued in 1960, descendants of Philip and Elizabeth not holding Royal styles and titles can use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, which has also been used by some members who do hold titles, such as Charles, Andrew and Anne. A keen sportsman, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He is a patron of over 800 organisations, and chairman of the long running The Duke of Edinburgh's Award for people aged 14 to 24.

Early life

Philip was born at Villa Mon Repos on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. His family, the House of Glücksburg (or in full, Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), is a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, which has ruled as kings of Denmark since 1448, and subsequently as kings of several other European countries. A branch of the House of Glücksburg succeeded the House of Wittelsbach as kings of Greece in 1862, thereby also adopting the Greek Orthodox religion instead of Lutheranism. The Glücksburg's in Greece, however, retained their status as members of the royal family in Denmark; for this reason, Philip was a prince both of the Kingdom of Greece and the Kingdom of Denmark.

Education

Philip was first educated at an American school in Paris run by Donald MacJannet, who described Philip as a "rugged, boisterous ... but always remarkably polite" boy. In 1928, he was sent to Britain to attend Cheam School, living with his maternal grandmother at Kensington Palace and his uncle, George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, at Lynden Manor in Bray,

Naval service

After leaving Gordonstoun in 1939, Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy, graduating the next year from the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, as the top cadet in his course. He was commissioned as a midshipman in January 1940. Philip spent four months on the battleship HMS Ramillies, protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean, followed by shorter postings on HM Ships Kent, Shropshire and in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). After the invasion of Greece by Italy in October 1940, he was transferred from the Indian Ocean to the battleship HMS Valiant in the Mediterranean Fleet. Amongst other engagements, he was involved in the Battle of Crete, was mentioned in despatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan, and was awarded the Greek War Cross of Valour.Duties of lesser glory included stoking the boilers of the troop transport ship RMS Empress of Russia.

Marriage

Further information: Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh

In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured Dartmouth Naval College. During the visit, the Queen and Earl Mountbatten asked Philip to escort the King's two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, who were Philip's third cousins through Queen Victoria, and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark. Elizabeth fell in love with Philip and they began to exchange letters.Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked the King for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request providing any formal engagement was delayed until Elizabeth's twenty-first birthday the following April. In the meantime, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles, as well as his allegiance to the Greek crown, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and became a naturalised British subject, all of which was done by 18 March 1947. Philip adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family. The engagement was announced to the public on 10 July 1947. The day preceding his wedding, King George VI bestowed the style His Royal Highness on Philip, and on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London.

Consort of the Queen

The accession of Elizabeth to the throne brought up the question of the name of the royal house. The Duke's uncle, Louis Mountbatten, advocated the name House of Mountbatten, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name on marriage; however, when Queen Mary, Elizabeth's paternal grandmother, heard of this suggestion, she informed the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who himself later advised the Queen to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. The Duke privately complained, "I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.

Duties and milestones

As consort to the Queen, Philip supported his wife in her new duties as Sovereign, accompanying her to ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament in various countries, state dinners, and tours abroad. As Chairman of the Coronation Commission, he was the first member of the royal family to fly in a helicopter, visiting the troops that were to take part in the ceremony. Philip was not crowned in the service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her "liege man of life and limb".

In the early 1950s, his sister-in-law, Princess Margaret, considered marrying a divorced older man, Peter Townsend. The press accused Philip of being hostile to the match. "I haven't done anything," he complained. Philip had not interfered, preferring to stay out of other people's love lives. Eventually, Margaret and Townsend parted. For six months over 1953–54 Philip and Elizabeth toured the Commonwealth; again their children were left in Britain.

Bibliography

Selected Speeches – 1948–55 (1957)

Selected Speeches – 1956–59 (1960)

Birds from Britannia (1962) (published in the United States as Seabirds from Southern Waters)

Wildlife Crisis with James Fisher (1970)

The Environmental Revolution: Speeches on Conservation, 1962–1977 (1978)

Competition Carriage Driving (1982) (published in France 1984, second edition 1984, revised edition 1994)

A Question of Balance (1982)

Men, Machines and Sacred Cows (1984)

A Windsor Correspondence with Michael Mann (1984)

Down to Earth: Collected Writings and Speeches on Man and the Natural World 1961–87 (1988) (paperback edition 1989, Japanese edition 1992)

Survival or Extinction: A Christian Attitude to the Environment with Michael Mann (1989)

Driving and Judging Dressage (1996)

Thirty Years On, and Off, the Box Seat (2004)

Forewords to:

The Concise British Flora in Colour by William Keble Martin, Ebury Press/ Michael Joseph (1965)

Kurt Hahn by Hermann Röhrs and Hilary Tunstall-Behrens (1970)

The Art of Driving by Max Pape (1982)

National Maritime Museum Guide to Maritime Britain by Keith Wheatley, (2000)

1953: The Crowning Year of Sport by Jonathan Rice, (2003)

British Flags and Emblems by Graham Bartram, Tuckwell Press (2004)

Chariots of War by Robert Hobson, Ulric Publication (2004)

Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton

Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton is scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. William, who is second in the line of succession to Queen Elizabeth II, first met Middleton in 2001, while he and Middleton were studying at the University of St Andrews. Their engagement, on 20 October 2010, was announced on 16 November 2010. After the wedding, the couple intend to continue residing on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, where Prince William is based as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot.

Clarence House announced on 16 November 2010 that Prince William, elder son of the Prince of Wales, was to marry Kate Middleton, William's long-time girlfriend, "in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London".They were engaged in October 2010 while on a private holiday in Kenya; William gave Middleton the same engagement ring that his father had given to William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales—an 18-carat white gold ring with a 12-carat oval sapphire and 14 round diamonds. It was announced at approximately the same time that, after their marriage, the couple will live on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, where Prince William is based with the Royal Air Force.

The Prince of Wales said he was "thrilled ... they have been practising long enough", and Queen Elizabeth II said she was "absolutely delighted" for the couple, giving her formal consent to the marriage, as required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772, in her British privy council on the morning of the engagement. Congratulations also came in from the Queen's prime ministers, including Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, who has moderate republican leanings. Further, Pete Broadbent, suffragan Bishop of Willesden, who has known republican views, published his reaction to the wedding announcement on Facebook. He later acknowledged that his words were "offensive" and subsequently apologised, but his superior, Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, instructed him to withdraw from public ministry "until further notice".

Following the announcement the couple gave an exclusive interview to ITV News political editor Tom Bradby and hosted a photocall at St. James's Palace. On 12 December 2010, Buckingham Palace issued the official engagement photographs; these were taken on 25 November, in the state apartments at St. James's Palace, by photographer Mario Testino.

Prince William is the elder son of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As such, he is second, behind his father, in the line of succession to the throne in 16 independent states known as the Commonwealth realms. William was educated at Ludgrove School, Eton College, and the University of St Andrews, after which he was commissioned from Sandhurst in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry. He later transferred to the Air Force and went on to become a full time pilot with the Search and Rescue Force.

On 23 November 2010, Clarence House announced the date for the wedding as 29 April 2011 and the venue as Westminster Abbey, a Royal Peculiar founded in AD 960. Although the abbey has been the traditional location for coronations since 1066, it has only recently been the church of choice for royal weddings; prior to 1918, most royal weddings took place in the royal chapels such as the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace and St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The abbey, which has a usual seating capacity of 2000,[39] has been the venue for recent royal weddings, including those of Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) to Prince Philip (1947), Princess Margaret to Anthony Armstrong-Jones (1960), Princess Anne to Mark Phillips (1973), and Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson (1986).

From 8.15 am, the main congregation, Governors-General, Prime Ministers of realm countries and the Diplomatic Corps will all arrive at the Abbey. Prince William and Harry are then due to arrive by 10.15 am. Further arrivals in turn will then consist of foreign royals, followed by the Middleton family, and lastly the Prince's family (The Princess Royal, The Duke of York, Princess Beatrice of York, Princess Eugenie of York, The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall). As is tradition, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will be the last members of the royal family to leave Buckingham Palace, arriving at the Abbey for 10.45 am. The bridal party will then leave the Goring Hotel in time for the service to begin at 11 am. The service is to finish at 12.15 pm, after which the newly married couple will travel to Buckingham Palace in a procession consisting of other royal family members, the parents of both the groom and bride, the best man, and the bridesmaids. At 1.25 pm, the couple will appear at the Buckingham Palace Balcony to watch the fly past consisting of Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight followed by two Typhoons and two Tornado.

The route of the bride and groom goes between Buckingham Palace and the Westminster Abbey, by The Mall, passing Clarence House, by Horse Guards Road, Horse Guards Parade, through Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, the south side of Parliament Square, and Broad Sanctuary.

St James's Palace announced on 5 January that the ceremony is to start at 11:00 and that Middleton will arrive at the abbey by car rather than by carriage (the latter is the traditional transport for royal brides.) The planned route is along The Mall, through the Horse Guards Parade, and down Whitehall to the abbey. After the ceremony, the bridal couple will return along the same route by carriage to a reception hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales is to host a private dinner that evening.

In a break with royal tradition, the groom is to have a best man—his brother, Prince Harry—rather than a supporter, while the bride has chosen her sister, Pippa, as maid of honour. The couple will have four bridesmaids—Lady Louise Windsor, the seven-year old daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex; Margarita Armstrong-Jones, the eight-year old daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Linley; Grace van Cutsem, the three-year old daughter of the couple's friend Hugh van Cutsem; and Eliza Lopes, the three-year old granddaughter of the Duchess of Cornwall. Two page boys are also to participate: William Lowther-Pinkerton, the ten-year old son of William's private secretary, and Tom Pettifer, the eight-year old son of William and Harry's former nanny, "Tiggy" Pettifer.

The Queen will host a lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace. The reception will start after the arrival carriage with the married couple. It will be a private gathering for guests drawn from the congregation who will represent the couple’s official and private lives. During the Reception, the couple will give an appearance on the Buckingham Palace Balcony. The East front of the palace contains this well-known balcony on which the Royal Family traditionally congregate to greet crowds outside. Guests will be served with canapés at the Reception.

In the evening, The Prince of Wales will give a private dinner, followed by dancing, at Buckingham Palace for the couple and their close friends and family.

On 16 and 17 February, three sets of guest lists were sent out in the name of the Queen. As William is not the heir apparent, protocol has dictated that many guests (or their successors in office) who were invited to the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 need not be invited to William's wedding. More than half of the guests will be family and friends of the couple, though there will be a significant number of Commonwealth leaders (including the governors-general who represent the Queen in Commonwealth realms other than the UK, prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms, and heads of government of other Commonwealth countries), members of religious organisations, the diplomatic corps, several military officials, members of the British Royal Household, members of foreign royal families, and representatives of William's charities and others with whom William has worked on official business. Although St James's Palace declined to publish the names of those invited, a breakdown of guests was published by category−the list made no mention of foreign heads of state, though it was announced that about 40 members of foreign royal families had been invited.

The wedding cake will have a strong British floral theme, using elements of the Joseph Lambeth technique. It will be a multi-tiered traditional fruit cake decorated with cream and white icing. The Lambeth technique is based on a style of decorating that was popular in England where chefs and decorators would use a lot of intricate piping to create 3-D scrollwork, leaves, flowers, and other decoration. The method is still popular today and is frequently used by wedding cake designers and decorators to create ornate wedding cakes.

The wedding will be widely broadcast on television, internet and radio. It has been estimated that the coverage will be watched by two billion people worldwide. All four major news programs in the US will expand double and triple their length to allow for full live coverage.

Middleton will have a wedding ring, which will be made from Welsh gold. Since 1923, it has been a tradition in the royal family to use Welsh gold for the wedding ring of the bride.This ring will be made from a small amount of gold that has been kept in the royal vaults since it was presented to Queen Elizabeth II. It was mined from the Clogau Gold Mine in the Welsh mountains, not far from Anglesey, where the couple live. The Clogau Gold Mine has been closed since the previous century.

There is only one case of the oldest surviving son of the Prince of Wales marrying before his father succeeded to the throne: the future George V who married Mary of Teck in 1893. He had already been created Duke of York a year earlier, shortly after the death of his older brother brought him directly in line of succession to the throne.

In recent years, several royal princes who did not already have a title were given one upon marriage, including Prince Andrew, who was created Duke of York when he married in 1986. In a break with precedent[59] Prince Edward was created Earl of Wessex; at the same time it was announced that he will be given the title Duke of Edinburgh when that title, currently held by his father, reverts to the Crown.

Prince William and Kate Middleton have personally approved an official range of china (including handmade plates, cups and pill boxes) to be made for the Royal Collection and sold as souvenirs from December 2010. The items are decorated with the intertwined initials of the couple, under the prince's coronet, and include the wording "To celebrate the marriage of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton 29 April 2011." The Lord Chamberlain's office approved a longer list of memorabilia, including official mugs, plates, biscuit tins and porcelain pill pots. The document also clarified the use of William's coat of arms and pictures of the couple on such memorabilia.

The royal wedding has been subject to threats of violence and disruption. In February, security agencies, including MI5, identified dissident Irish republican terror groups, such as the The Soldiers of Ireland (Óglaigh na hÉireann), as possible threats. The London police announced in March that they were considering tough measures to prevent disorder amid fear that anarchists will target the event following the protests against government budget cuts earlier in the year. In April, Anjem Choudary, formerly leader of the banned group Islam4UK, warned that a terror attack at the wedding was "highly likely". The group Muslims Against Crusades announced plans for a "forceful demonstration" at the wedding, calling the Royal Family "enemies to Allah and his messenger.