The Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

[A.S.]

Tomorrow is the big day, and we wish for not only sunshine tomorrow but to shine throughout the happy couples entire lives.

I wonder how many young Royals around the world would actually get up in the morning and turn up for on-the-job training over many years for something as complex and dangerous as flying a search and rescue helicopter. Prince William follows in his ancestor's footsteps by joining the Services and is now an accomplished pilot. Flying a helicopter is a complex 3D control challenge and requires exceptional coordination. More here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxOv6...feature=relmfu

Also here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vehzo...eature=related

The couple report their happiness at public well-wishes here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13217693

As for the wedding on show tomorrow, you will see one thousand years of finely-honed pageantry in action. A 360 degree walk-around of nine hundred year old Westminster Abbey with it's long history can be seen here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12819684

We wish them a wonderful and memorable day, watched by a global TV audience of billions.

Watching the wedding: Prince William's web site

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/medi...538848844.html

and the wedding will be streamed live here on the Royal Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel

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P.S. It is reported that the Royal family consider this is a private family wedding rather than a State occasion. Neither the previous elected Prime Minster Blair nor his unelected successor, Brown have been invited. Sadly, Lady Thatcher is too frail to attend. My wife and I are thankful that we are out of the miserable decade where political advantage would have been wrung out of the young couple's day.

[GregD]

Thanks for finding out all this information Alan, will be watching on TV. I wonder if Harbeths will be used to mix the broadcast? How appropriate that would be - two quintessentially British institutions showing the world how it's done!

[Labarum]

P.S. It is reported that the Royal family consider this is a private family wedding rather than a State occasion. Neither the previous elected Prime Minster Blair nor his unelected successor, Brown have been invited. Sadly, Lady Thatcher is too frail to attend.

There was a fuss in the press about former Prime Ministers Sir John Major and Lady Thatcher being invited, but not other former Prime Ministers - Blair and Brown. In truth no former PM has been invited because they were former PMs; but all the Knights of the Garter are invited (Blair and Brown are not such Knights.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter

Prince William has recently been made a Garter Knight and the other Garter Knights should be thought of as belonging to his family.

The home of the Order is St George's Chapel, Windsor, which with Westminster Abbey is one of the "Royal Peculiars"

http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/

http://www.westminster-abbey.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Peculiar

{Moderator's comment: perhaps so but they could have been invited at a stroke.}

[HUG-1]

Here are some videos from the service just a few hours ago ....

Kate arrives at Westminster Abbey:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13237486

Married, walking up the isle:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13237856

Leaving the Abbey:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13240480

and the much awaited balcony scene:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13237447

The vast crowd put the lie to those who say the British Monarch are an anachronism. The relatively youthful crowd attest to the magnificent skill with which the modern Royal Family have managed to position themselves as simultaneously part of and yet apart from the British people. Long may they reign as a counterbalance to the impermanence of Politics.

[A.S.]

And here is a video of the happy newly weds leaving Buckingham Palace in their father's classic 60s Aston.

Here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ing-drive.html

And a great summary of the memorable day is here in this short video:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-unfolded.html

Perhaps the most remarkable and gratifying spectacle in these cynical times was the popularity of the couple with the public. Attached is a picture of what a crowd of approximately one million people look like. Truly Britain at its very best - a fine balance between respect for our heritage and being a thoroughly modern country. Very much a reflection of our own products.

[jair44]

Yes great spectacle it was.

[HUG-1]

Where else I wonder are the police so on-side with the general public that they both can do this ....!

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/po...FZAoczaYhhFxeg

Also here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...t-arrests.html

The British police are highly respected as being fair and impartial. And incorruptible. The policing and concealed security led to the light and happy atmosphere - with hardly a gun in sight.

Note to overseas readers: The ordinary police officer we see in our towns and cities in Britain is not armed. He carries no gun. To carry a gun, the officer has to be especially selected for temperament and coolness under pressure. He is issued a gun only in exceptional circumstances if he is part of the firearms squad, and the weapon must be signed-out and signed-in again at the end of the duty. Because the ordinary police are not armed (airport police are now armed) their relationship with the public is generally good.

[A.S.]

A few days after the wedding, Prince William is back at work flying his search and rescue helicopter here. This entirely free service extracts people from accidents and emergencies around the coast and up mountains - valuable, skilful work.

And, were you there on the big day? Here is a high-definition 200 degree picture looking out from Buckingham Palace along The Mall. The zoom control is on the top left. Which reminds me, did you know that the Union flag (the union jack) is not exactly symmetrical and must be hung in the correct way? Even here in the UK, it is often incorrectly made or hung.

The rules of how to hang the British flag are clear and are here. The clue is the top left corner ....

[Labarum]

And, were you there on the big day?

I was in the air - flying back from Cyprus to Manchester, then driving across the Pennines for a family wedding in York.

That family wedding used the "new service" which is most common, but the Royal Wedding used the "old service" in Shakespearean English

" . . . wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife . . . "

http://www.churchofengland.org/praye...matrimony.aspx

I say old, but the precise text dates only from 1928, being an edited version of the 1662 text

http://www.churchofengland.org/praye...matrimony.aspx

which was itself an updated version of the first translation of the Latin Marriage Service into English in 1549

http://justus.anglican.org/resources...riage_1549.htm

You can see how, over a century, English spelling settled to what we know today.


And the "new service"?

http://www.churchofengland.org/praye.../marriage.aspx

[BAS-H]

Which reminds me, did you know that the Union flag (the union jack) is not exactly symmetrical and must be hung in the correct way?

Yes! In fact, I believe the Navy used to fly the Jack upside down as a message to those in the know that they were in some kind of trouble and in need of help.