Kate Middleton

The Royal Wedding procession will go past some of London’s most famous landmarks. pixax presents some new royal wedding photos specially Kate Meddleton

SOurce: http://fashtrendz.com/2011/04/royal-wedding-kate-middleton/

British Royal Wedding Answers

Thanks to Certified Royal Expert, Robyn H., for writing this quiz!

1. This special and rare material has been included in royal wedding rings since 1923, and William and Kate may likely follow in the tradition. What is this material?
The material is Welsh gold, which has come from the Clogau and Gwynfynydd gold mines. (Since this is Welsh, spelling does not count.)

2. Since the Royal Family has been mum so far on what royal peerage William will receive (if any), many different ideas on what his new bride will be called have all been batted around. Why are the following title suggestions incorrect?
a. Princess Catherine of Wales Kate will not hold the title of Princess in her own right, and therefore cannot put the title before her first name.
b. Catherine, Princess of Wales First of all, William is not The Prince of Wales yet, and therefore Kate cannot be "Princess of Wales." Secondly, this is the form of title used for women who have divorced their titled husbands. Notable women with this style and title are Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York. So Kate could only be "Catherine, Princess of Wales" if she divorced William after Charles had become King and invested William as The Prince of Wales. For the record, Kate's official title will be Princess William of Wales unless the Queen gives William another title (Duke/Earl of Someplace), in which case she'll be Duchess or Countess of Someplace.

3. Kate's engagement has thrown her family into the spotlight, especially her younger sister Pippa, who will be maid of honor. Apart from best man Prince Harry, just who are these people in the wedding party?
Bridesmaids:
a. The Lady Louise Windsor - daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and thus William's cousin
b. The Honourable Margarita Armstrong-Jones - daughter of the Queen's nephew Viscount Linley, and thus William's second cousin
c. Grace van Cutsem - William's goddaughter
d. Eliza Lopes - Camilla's granddaughter

Page boys:
e. Billy Lowther-Pinkerton - son of William's private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton
f. Tom Pettifer - William's godson

4. Part of the royal hullabaloo surrounding the wedding have been calls for William to pass over his father and succeed his grandmother as King. Apart from nullifying the work of a man who has trained to rule for nearly his entire life, why will this not happen?
Simply because the British constitution does not allow it. The Queen does not have the power to choose who inherits the throne (nor do the British people, for that matter). The only ways that William could skip over Charles would be if Charles were to predecease both William and the Queen, marry a Roman Catholic, or abdicate. Furthermore, under the Statute of Westminster 1931, changes to the Constitution regarding succession (e.g., allowing eldest children to succeed, regardless of gender) require the consent of every nation in the Commonwealth.

5. Where are the official sources to get British Royal Wedding information?
Information (such as it is; with six weeks to go, many of the details are still under wraps) can be obtained by following The Prince of Wales' official Twitter account (@ClarenceHouse) or by visiting the official British Royal Wedding website.

Lively Images

With all this talk of celebrated photographer Mario Testino being commissioned to take the official engagement snaps of Prince William and Kate Middleton, it’s easy to forget that In the days before mass media and photography, few people knew what their rulers looked like unless they actually saw them in the flesh (rather than in the flash, as is the case today). Diplomatic reports, letters and diaries often contain detailed descriptions of the great and good, because then, as now, readers had an insatiable desire to know everything about their lordly masters.

When it came to seeking out a bride for a royal prince, such descriptions were absolutely critical. The happy couple were not likely to see each other, let alone learn about much about each other’s characters, until days, or even hours before the wedding. Fortunately, the highest in the land could afford to despatch a portrait painter with the diplomatic party that negotiated the marriage deal. Decent artists were highly valued by royal marriage brokers, but they trod a fine line between flattery and honesty.

Henry VIII, Britain’s most-married king and an experienced prospector in the world of Renaissance princesses, employed the best. In 1539, after the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour, he despatched Hans Holbein to paint two German princesses, the daughters of the Duke of Cleves (in northern Germany), and instructed him to err on the side of accuracy. Henry, a connoisseur of the female, form, wanted no nasty surprises when he encountered his bride-to-be in the flesh.

Nicholas Wotton, the head of the English delegation, reported to Henry: "Your Grace's servant Hanze Albein hathe taken th'effigies of my lady Anne and the lady Amelye and hath expressed theyr images very lyvely".

Holbein’s portrait of Anne (left, courtesy WIkimedia Commons) showed an unassuming, thoughtful woman in an intricately decorated, rich red dress – indeed the gown is rather more memorable than the princess. Anne was clearly not a great beauty, but nor did she appear to be utterly unpleasing. When she arrived in England, Henry came to inspect her incognito, and introduced himself as one of the king’s nobles. Anne was polite, but clearly more interested in the bull-baiting that was taking place outside her window, and Henry, who was accustomed to being recognised, retreated with wounded pride. Either Henry’s disguise was impenetrable, or Anne had not seen a portrait of her husband-to-be. The bride’s opinion of her future husband was of little consequence to the marriage deal.

When Henry re-appeared as himself, the couple appeared to get on well, although Henry allegedly dismissed her as a ‘fat Flanders mare’ and muttered to Thomas Cromwell that he was only going through with the marriage for the sake of the country. Henry could not wriggle out of the marriage treaty and the couple married on 6 January 1540.

Holbein, formerly the king’s favourite artist and arguably the architect of Tudor visual propaganda, was temporarily disgraced.

Anne’s reaction on meeting the overweight, irascible Tudor monarch is not recorded. Their marriage was not consummated and was dissolved after only six months. At this point one wonders whether alarm bells rang in Anne’s head, given her husband’s habit of disposing of wives who displeased him. Anne did everything she could to cooperate with Henry’s plans for an annulment. In return she was given a handsome allowance of £4,000 a year and allowed to retire to the south coast, with the honorary title ‘King’s sister’, where she lived contentedly at Henry’s expense for the rest of her life. Just three months after their divorce, the French ambassador reported that the former queen was on excellent form:

‘Madame of Cleves has a more joyous countenance than ever. She wears a great variety of dresses and passes all her time in sports and recreations’.

Anne enjoyed far more freedom in England than she would have done if she returned to her brother’s court in Cleves, where she would have been disgraced. In England she was a woman of independent means who maintained her friendships with the royal family, and was the longest-lived of Henry’s wives, surviving them all.

Holbein’s lively likeness may not have impressed Henry, but it seems to have conveyed the truth about Anne: compliant, sensible and polite, she used these skills to survive.

Where the marriage should take place . . .

There can't be many families who have embarked on wedding planning without having, at the very least, a heated debate about some aspect of the Big Day. The venue is often the trickiest decision, simply because it is often hard to book the place of your dreams. This is obviously not such a problem if you are marrying into the royal family.

In 1858 Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Vicky, the Princess Royal, married Prince Frederick William of Prussia. They had been engaged for two years, since the princess was 14, a relationship cemented in the heather at Balmoral where the 24 year-old Fritz had proposed. Victoria was delighted because the young couple obviously cared for each other (and we must brush aside modern concerns about the wisdom of encouraging your 14-year-old’s relationship with a man ten years her senior). Conveniently, their union also fulfilled a useful political purpose in the wake of the Crimean War, uniting Britain and Prussia against misplaced Russian ambitions in Europe.

Punch Magazine composed a patriotic ode to the happy couple.

Victoria and Albert were determined that the wedding could not take place before Vicky was 17, so their engagement was a long, and for a while, secret one. Early in 1856, rumours of the union appeared in the press, however, and neither English nor Prussian commentators were overwhelmed with happiness at the prospect. The Times sniffly dismissed the Prussian royal family as ‘a paltry German dynasty’. The official announcement did not occur until May 1857, at which point the Prussians issued the ultimate insult, by suggesting that the marriage take place in Berlin. Lytton Strachey, the Queen’s biographer, noted that the Queen was ‘speechless with indignation.’

On paper, however, she let rip, emphatically, imperiously, and slightly hysterically. She asked the Foreign Secretary, Lord Clarendon, to inform the German Ambassador

‘not to ENTERTAIN the POSSIBILITY of such a question . . . The Queen NEVER could consent to it, both for public and for private reasons, and the assumption of its being TOO MUCH for a Prince Royal of Prussia to come over to marry the Princess Royal of Great Britain IN England is too ABSURD to say the least. The Queen must say that there never was even the shadow of a doubt on Prince Frederick William's part, as to where the marriage should take place. . . .Whatever may be the usual practice of Prussian Princes, it is not EVERY day that one marries the eldest daughter of the Queen of England. The question must be considered as settled and closed.’

And that was that. The wedding took place on 25th January 1858 in the comparatively small Chapel Royal of St James Palace, but it was accompanied by great public festivities – illuminations, state concerts, immense crowds and general rejoicings. Incidentally, the bride and bridegroom left the church to a glorious, but then little-known recessional, Opus 61, by the German composer Felix Mendelssohn. Since Vicky’s nuptials, it has become known as the ‘Wedding March’ and few weddings are complete without it.

We Await Queen Kate

Yes, I will call her Princess Katherine soon. I just liked the title. A royal wedding! Bliss! I hope to study every aspect of it. I am very excited because Kate Middleton and I share a common ancestor. It will be good to be related to our future Queen.

In the meantime, wonderful Mandy at The Royal Representative has lots of news about it.

I know that I have been a bit 'slack' lately - I hope to write some new posts soon.