Wedding Details of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

The following details are taken from the royal wedding media briefing document I got yesterday from the official wedding site of William and Kate. 

The document's first page includes a monogram of the couple with a crown on top of their initials. The media briefing document was released by St. James's Palace, the official working office of the Prince of Wales. And distributed to the media for accurate reporting.

Oh, there's one more thing, for people who are expecting to see the very famous part of the wedding ceremony, "you may now kiss the bride", it's a different story for royalty. 

They never kiss in the church during the wedding rite.

The Dean of Westminster made it clear that "We don't do that in the Church of England, that's sort of a Hollywood thing" referring to the "wedding kiss inside the church". 

But the public will have a chance to see William and Kate sharing a kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Wedding Breakfast. The marriage will be solemnized by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The official consent of Queen Elizabeth II for the marriage of her grandson was released last Maundy Thursday. The Instrument of Consent was personally signed by the Queen at the Privy Council meeting after she made the Declaration of Consent last February. 

What's this official consent thing?

Based on the ancient law of the monarchy, the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, all descendants of King George II of the United Kingdom must formally seek the permission of the British ruling sovereign for marriage in order to be considered legal in the United Kingdom and retain their succession rights. 

Anybody who would not ask permission, or in case the marriage will not be approved by the sovereign, the union will be considered null and void in Great Britain and would automatically remove the royal from the line of succession to the British throne. 

Descendants of King George II include all members of the reigning European royal houses, except in Liechtenstein, Monaco, and The Netherlands.

Consent to Prince William's marriage

Under the Great Seal of the Realm, Her Majesty signed a notice of approval proclaiming and giving consent to the union of His Royal Highness, Prince William of Wales, K.G (Knight of the Garter), and Miss Catherine Elizabeth Middleton. 

The document has a decorative artwork to represent William and Kate, a white lily to represent St. Catherine of Siena whose feast day falls on the couple's wedding day, a Welsh leek surrounded by the Prince's white three-pronged second-in-line label, and a red scallop taken from Spencer's family Coat-of-Arms, to pay tribute to William's late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE SCHEDULE

The following timings have been confirmed for the Wedding Day. 

• 8.15 -9.45am  The general congregation will arrive at the Great North Door of Westminster Abbey.
• 9.50am  Governors-General and Prime Ministers of Realm Countries, the Diplomatic Corps, and other distinguished guests arrive at the Abbey.
• 10.10am Prince William and his Best Man, his younger brother, Prince Henry of Wales leave Clarence House for Westminster Abbey.  They will arrive at the Abbey at 10.15am.
• 10.20am Foreign royal families arrive at Westminster Abbey from Buckingham Palace.
• 10.20am Mrs. Carol Middleton and Mr. James Middleton leave the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey.  They will arrive at the Abbey at 10.27am.
• 10.25am Members of the Royal Family (except those listed below) leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey.  They will arrive at the Abbey at 10.30am.
• 10.35am The following Members of the Royal Family leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey, which will be based on their position in the line of succession.  The Duke of York, Princess Beatrice of York, Princess Eugenie of York, The Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence.
• 10.38am The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall leave Clarence House for Westminster Abbey.  
• 10.40am The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey.  They are expected to arrive at the Abbey at 10.45am.
• 10.48am  The Bridesmaids and Pages leave the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey.  
• 10.51am Catherine, accompanied by her father, Mr. Michael Middleton, leaves the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey.
• 11.00am The wedding ceremony begins. 
• 12.15pm The carriage procession of the bride and groom with a captain’s escort of the Household Cavalry, followed by The Queen’s Procession with a Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry, leaves Westminster Abbey for Buckingham Palace.
• 12.30pm The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Buckingham Palace.
• 12.40pm Members of the Royal Family and Foreign Royals arrive at Buckingham Palace.
• From 12.40pm Other guests for the Reception arrive at Buckingham Palace.
• 1.25pm The Queen, the newlyweds, together with their respective families, will appear on the palace's balcony to greet the crowds.
• 1.30pm Fly-past presentation of the Royal Air Force and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. 

All arrivals at Westminster Abbey are at the Great West Door unless otherwise indicated. 

THE BRIDAL ENTOURAGE

Best Man: His Royal Highness, Prince Harry of Wales (the groom's only brother)

Maid of Honor: Miss Philippa Middleton (the bride's only sister)

Bridesmaids: 

• The Lady Louise Windsor, 7 years old (William's first cousin)
• Honorable Margarita Armstrong-Jones, 8 yrs. old (son of Viscount Linley-the Queen's nephew)
• Miss Grace Van Cutsems, 3 years old (William's godchild)
• Miss Elisa Lopes, 3 yrs. old (granddaughter of the Duchess of Cornwall)

Pageboys:

• Master William Lower-Pinkerton, 10 yrs. old (son of William's private secretary)
• Master Tom Pettifer, 10 yrs. old (son of William's former nanny)

These young girls and boys will perform their roles as bridesmaids and pageboys (commonly known as Groom's men) in the wedding and will have their position in the carriage after the ceremony.

WEDDING MUSICIAN AND PHOTOGRAPHER

Musicians: 

• The Choir groups of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace
• The London Chamber Opera
• The Fanfare team of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force
• The State Trumpeters of the Household of Cavalry
• Official wedding Photographer: Hugo Burnard of Conde Nust Publications - personally chosen by Prince William to take wedding souvenirs because of his long service to the royal family as a portrait photographer.

WEDDING RING

In British royalty and aristocracy, males never actually wear a wedding ring because, under the marriage vow of the Anglican rites, the ring symbolizes "worldly treasure" which will be offered by a groom to his bride. 

Wearing a wedding ring among British aristocrats is entirely a personal choice and Prince William already made it clear he won't wear a wedding ring. 

So there will only be one ring in the ceremony, which will be worn by the bride. It is made from the lump of Welsh Gold owned by the royal family. 

By not wearing a wedding ring, Prince William will follow the tradition set by male royals including his grandfather, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh. 

But his father, Prince Charles, and two uncles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, each wore a wedding ring for their respective marriages. The Prince of Wales placed it under his signet ring on his little finger.

WEDDING CAKE

There will be two sets of wedding cakes prepared for the wedding. One is the traditional wedding cake made by Fiona Cairns from Leicestershire. It is a multi-tiered fruit cake with roses and cream icing and will be decorated with British floral themes. 

The other cake is a Chocolate Biscuit Cake, especially requested by Prince William (because it's his grandmother, the Queen's favorite), made from the royal family recipe and will be created by McVitie's Cake Company.

WEDDING RECEPTION

Traditionally, the royal family called this WEDDING BREAKFAST even if the reception falls in the afternoon. There will be two receptions. First at 1:00 pm to be hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and second at 6:00 in the evening to be hosted by the groom's father, Prince Charles.

Among the 1,900 invited guests, only 600 will be invited to the Wedding Breakfast and mostly members of the British royal family and foreign royals. 

Guests will be served canapes and Chocolate biscuit cake. Among the 600 people, only 300 will be invited to a private dinner at 6:00 pm hosted by Prince Charles also at Buckingham Palace.

WEDDING BOUQUET

The flowers comprising the bridal bouquet are not mentioned in the document but one thing is for sure, there will be no tossing of the bouquet in the reception just like ordinary weddings because Kate Middleton will follow the tradition set by previous royal brides.

Her bouquet is expected to be placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located on the floor of Westminster Abbey. 

WEDDING GIFTS

William and Kate have set up a Charity Fund which listed charitable institutions around the United Kingdom with no existing royal patronages and mostly unknown, to be the beneficiaries of their wedding gifts. 

They announced through their official wedding site that in case of any generosity for their wedding, gifts will be in the form of anything to be donated to any of the charities listed in the Fund.

WEDDING PARADE

The wedding ceremony will be relayed by audio speakers along the route. After the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the entourage and the royal family will return to Buckingham Palace and will pass on a designated route with tight security. 

William and Kate will ride in a 1902 State Landau, the same Landau that carried Prince Charles and Lady Diana during their 1981 royal wedding. 

They will be followed by horse-drawn carriages carrying members of the British royal family, but the Queen and Prince Philip will ride in a State glass carriage. The Middleton family will ride on the motor couches provided by the royal family.

FLYPAST PRESENTATION

After the wedding breakfast, the newlywed will appear for 10 minutes on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the royal family to greet the cheering crowd. 

There will be a fly-past presentation where the Royal Air Force will do an acrobat stunt of their aircraft. It was revealed that the aircraft units to be used are Spitfire, Lancaster, and Hurricane, mostly from the Battle of Britain Memorial.

The Spitfires and Hurricanes were prominently featured in the book, The Battle of Britain by Matthew Parker (which I read last week) used by the Royal Air Force during World War II.

LIVE STREAMING ON THE ROYAL CHANNEL

It was announced also that the royal wedding can be viewed for free on the Royal Channel on YouTube accompanied by a live multi-media blog coordinated by St. James's Palace. 

The Royal Channel will host a live stream gadget courtesy of google.com which will stream the wedding live from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.