ROYAL WEDDING TIMETABLE (with historic details from print edition)

NY POST (TWO PAGE PRINT EDITION) ^ | 4/28/11

[xp38]

Of all the sights I saw in London when visiting the only one that overwhelmed me was the Abbey. It is almost too much to take in when you visit for the first time. Every alcove has either a monarch resting in it or some other major English notable. While it is part of the Church of England it comes under direct control of the Monarch and is known along with a few other churches a Royal Peculiar. There is an admission fee except if you attend a service.

[STARWISE]

LOL .. that Harry is a devil. If that’s the only
prank he pulled, William got off easy. They’re such
typical brothers...and Harry the joker. I wonder if we’ll hear about any of Harry’s escapades at his party for them last night.

[NautiNurse]

I wonder if we’ll hear about any of Harry’s escapades at his party for them last night.

"What goes on in the palace, stays in the palace."

[STARWISE]

What a spectacular and beautiful day!!! I LOVED all of it .. watched the replays over and over .. could not get enough of all the majesty, beauty and the obvious devotion and love between the happy couple before I finally was too exhausted to watch anymore. It was truly magical.

It was all glorious and historic .. an extraordinarily opulent feast for the eyes, such a much needed departure and relief from this coarsening, violent and inhumane world of sadness, crisis and uncertainty. The evident love between them and his tenderness, shy grin, and protectiveness toward her touched me. All Diana.

And .. oh, that Harry .. frisky, fun and real.

God bless and protect them and grant them decades of health, the safe harbor of enduring fidelity and deepening love and honor, and the boundless joy of happy little feet to adore, protect and nurture together.

I felt Diana's love and influence in him so profoundly. I think any thoughtful soul felt her presence. My heart flipped, eyes misted when I read that Wills took Kate last week to the Spencer Estate, and rowed out to the island site of her gravesite, to share, remember and honor his beloved Mum, and to see the trees he and Harry planted there after her death. She's forever in their hearts and will always be a guidepost of goodness in their lives.

The gorgeous couple are putting their official honeymoon on hold for a bit, and he'll resume his rescue flight duties in a couple of days. They choppered from Buckingham Palace this am for a couple of days alone in an unknown location in the UK.

Articles here... and here.

The MSNBC channel on the tube is showing the glorious wedding day on NOW!!! A lovely fan tribute to their wedding is here.

If you enjoyed being here on Free Republic for this event, being able to share thoughts, pictures and amiable chat ..AND if you haven't yet donated to help keep FR up, running well and growing strong, PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN! Thank you ! Free Republic survives on the voluntary contributions of the community, and any amount you can donate will help to keep the premier conservative site on the web running. We know it's more important now than ever that we have and KEEP this gathering place. (I'm watching it all again on MSNBC ..LOL .. be still my heart .. I'm a pushover for romance ;)

[DollyCali]

thanks so much for the ping to these ma'am! great pix. This was posted on Facebook by a FReeper Friend.

HARRY's Antics at the PM PARTY and more tidbits/pix

[La Enchiladita]

nice little joke, which I’m assuming was done by his brother.

Yep. That's what I thought when I learned what the 'L' meant...... haha, that Harry.

[La Enchiladita]

Love the photo of Wills and Kate with the children.

[NautiNurse]

Love the pics! The family photos are exquisite! Look how Will and Harry dwarf their father. The handsome newlyweds are going to make some beautiful babies.

[STARWISE]

Prince Harry Gives a Great Wedding Toast
By Mike Krumboltz
Sat, April 30, 2011, 10:16 am PDT

No matter how perfect the wedding, it can always be derailed by a bad speech from the best man. Fortunately for William and Kate, Prince Harry knocked 'em dead with his reception toast.

Details are scant, but according to the UK's Daily Telegraph, Harry's speech was both "light-hearted" and "laced with jokes at his brother's expense and even some of his more elderly relatives."

According to many news agencies, Harry had planned to tone down his speech if his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II came to the reception. But apparently she turned in early, leaving Harry to go with the uncensored version.

Various news outlets have reported that actor and comedian Ricky Gervais offered to help Harry write his speech. Gervais wrote on his blog, "I sent Prince Harry a text today offering to gag up his best man speech. (True.) He said he was fine. Hmmm?"

Quotes from the toast are frustratingly difficult to find, but an article from Us Weekly reports that a guest remarked: "We all wished he could have just carried on. It was perfect. He was very nice... (and) said all the things he needed to say. It was perfect. He was a dude."

Meanwhile, there are a few quotes regarding the toast of Prince Charles. William's father was said to have delivered a stirring and emotional (while still funny) toast that brought the house down. The Daily Mail writes that Charles described Kate as the daughter he never had and said that the family is "lucky to have her."

Charles also made a few cracks about William's disappearing hairline and noted that, considering his own bald patch, it's "probably hereditary." Charles gave his speech from a small stand, a subtle self-effacing joke at his relatively short stature compared to William's reported 6' 3" height.

~~~~~~

After the lavish Palace party for 300 family and friends last night guests slowly began to leave the party from 11pm onwards with the last departing at 3am.

Prince Harry boarded a minibus with around a dozen over people while Kate Middleton and Prince William spent their first night as a married couple in one of the suites at the Palace.

Chelsy Davy was seen leaving in a car with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. There was a short 20 second blast of fireworks at the end of the party.

The older guests were seen leaving earlier in the evening before the last of the partygoers got into cars at 3am – or walked off down The Mall.

Some partygoers could be seen kissing in the back of taxis as the vehicles left the lavish late night event.

Palace joker: Prince Harry leaves Buckingham Palace in a coach – while wedding guest Chelsy Davy left in a royal car with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

After a very public wedding watched by an estimated two billion people, the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be hoping for some privacy on their honeymoon.

The royals are expected to set off to a mystery location today and William has taken a fortnight’s leave from his job as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot for the holiday.

The destination has so far been shrouded in secrecy, with William having reportedly not even told his new wife where they are going, but speculation is rife over possible choices.

~~~~~~

William Sneaks a Peek By Mike Krumboltz
Sat, April 30, 2011, 7:54 am PDT

Did Prince William break his own rule and sneak a peek at his bride as she walked the aisle? It sure looks like it.

If you weren't one of the two billion people who watched the wedding, here's the scoop. Prince William stood at the head of the church, Prince Harry at his side. Harry, never one for self-restraint, turned around to look at his brother's bride.

Harry then said something mischievous to his big brother, who, no longer able resist his baby brother's goading, turns around to catch a glimpse of Kate. The furtive glance can only be seen by certain wide shot camera angles.

Of course, there's no rule that says the groom can't look at the bride as she walks the aisle, but William's sneaky peek did go against what he said was his plan: To not see Kate in her wedding dress until she was next to him at the front of Westminster Abbey.

But when your baby brother says "Wait until you see her," it can be pretty hard to resist a look. William may be the future King of England, but he's only human. Watch the footage here. The glance comes at the 16:37 mark.

~~~~~~~~~

ABC's hour+ long wedding coverage video ..whiny Diane, Barbara Walters here and which supposedly shows the 'furtive' glance Wills gave of Kate coming down the aisle. THIS WEDDING CEREMONY ITSELF IS COVERED PRETTY COMPLETELY AND BEAUTIFULLY HERE. (PS .. If there was a glance, it was off camera .. I didn't see it.)

I also found this particularly moving .. William ... and Kate .. truly were thoughtful in their choices, and purposely included references to his Dear Mum. He has said that not a day goes by that he doesn't think of her. I think it's clear he has come of age and is definitely his own man. I believe he will put heart and his own stamp on the monarchy and have a very positive impact, which they sorely need. God bless his heart.

"When Middleton reached the altar, the groom whispered to her, “You look beautiful. The congregation then sang “Guide Me Oh Great Redeemer,” a hymn sung at the funeral of Prince William’s mother, Diana Spencer."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie .. God help me, I just couldn't pass this one by .... ROFL !

And

Apparently, according to Today show coverage by Kathi Lee Gifford and Hoda, Queen Elizabeth actually snubbed Camilla when she and Price Phillip entered the Abbey .. (at the 03:50 mark). Oh my .. LOL.

Westminster Abbey is jaw dropping .. no matter how many times you see it on TV. Would LOVE to see it in person. The magnificence of the interior is just breathtaking.. and it's over 1,000 yrs old.

Talk about GORgeous! The Earl of Spencer's (Diana's brother) three daughers.

"

FNC is doing The Wedding .. NOW, if you can disregard the shamefully inappropriate and flippant at times .. Shep and Jonathan Hunt. Martha McCollum is thoroughly professional and wonderful, and Greta's on tape as well.

[STARWISE]

They’re just adorable .. and yes, their fortunate offspring should melt hearts .. ;)

[La Enchiladita]

Kate Middleton and Prince William take on links to Ireland after Royal Wedding

Um, no, it's not about golfing...:)

[thesearethetimes...]

Thank you so much for the link. The coverage I saw seems to have skipped the interior shots : /

I wish Will and Kate a long and happy marriage, and pray that England joins with us in a return to sanity!

May God give us all strength.
Tatt

[stylecouncilor]

Thank you all, and many other contributors for a most enjoyable thread to go along with a great day!!

[af_vet_rr]

I watched some of the BBC coverage, and it was their reporter in the plane, and they seemed to be having transmission difficulties from inside the bomber so there isn't much footage from inside.

The BBC coverage was good - not as much filler material from the talking heads as the American media. The American media tended to believe that you need to know their opinions on every single aspect of it, while the BBC and others tended to let you figure it out for yourself a lot more. Their talking heads didn't seem to be as full of themselves.

Somebody earlier asked about the tomb they were walking around, and here is a better photo:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

It was emailed to me so I don't know the source, but here is the background in case anybody is curious and it didn't get answered:

The Unknown Warrior, which is the only tombstone in Westminster Abbey that people are forbidden from walking on, hence the poppy outline.

On the morning of 11 November 1920, the casket was placed onto a gun carriage of the Royal Horse Artillery and drawn by six horses through immense and silent crowds. As the cortege set off, a further field marshal's salute was fired in Hyde Park. The route followed was Hyde Park Corner, The Mall, and to Whitehall where the Cenotaph, a "symbolic empty tomb", was unveiled by King-Emperor George V. The cortège was then followed by the king, the Royal Family and ministers of state to Westminster Abbey, where the casket was borne into the West Nave of the Abbey flanked by a guard of honour of one hundred recipients of the Victoria Cross.

The guests of honour were a group of about one hundred women. They had been chosen because they had each lost their husband and all their sons in the war. "Every woman so bereft who applied for a place got it".

The coffin was then interred in the far western end of the nave, only a few feet from the entrance, in soil brought from each of the main battlefields, and covered with a silk pall. Servicemen from the armed forces stood guard as tens of thousands of mourners filed silently past. The ceremony appears to have served as a form of catharsis for collective mourning on a scale not previously known.

The grave was then capped with a black Belgian marble stone (the only tombstone in the Abbey on which it is forbidden to walk) featuring this inscription, composed by Dean Ryle, Dean of Westminster, engraved with brass from melted down wartime ammunition:

BENEATH THIS STONE RESTS THE BODY
OF A BRITISH WARRIOR
UNKNOWN BY NAME OR RANK
BROUGHT FROM FRANCE TO LIE AMONG
THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS OF THE LAND
AND BURIED HERE ON ARMISTICE DAY
11 NOV: 1920, IN THE PRESENCE OF
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V
HIS MINISTERS OF STATE
THE CHIEFS OF HIS FORCES
AND A VAST CONCOURSE OF THE NATION

THUS ARE COMMEMORATED THE MANY
MULTITUDES WHO DURING THE GREAT
WAR OF 1914 - 1918 GAVE THE MOST THAT
MAN CAN GIVE LIFE ITSELF
FOR GOD
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
FOR LOVED ONES HOME AND EMPIRE
FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND
THE FREEDOM OF THE WORLD

THEY BURIED HIM AMONG THE KINGS BECAUSE HE
HAD DONE GOOD TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD
HIS HOUSE

Around the main inscription are four texts:

THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS (top)
UNKNOWN AND YET WELL KNOWN, DYING AND BEHOLD WE LIVE (side)
IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE (base)
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS (side)

[af_vet_rr]

Interesting follow-up:

A year later, the Warrior was given the U.S. Medal of Honor (The U.S.'s highest award for valor) on 17 October 1921, from the hand of General Pershing; it hangs on a pillar near to his burial site. (Later, on 11 November 1921, the U.S. Unknown Soldier was reciprocally awarded the Victoria Cross).

When Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married the future King George VI on 26 April 1923, she laid her bouquet at the Tomb on her way into the Abbey, as a tribute to her brother Fergus who had died at the Battle of Loos in 1915. Royal brides married at the Abbey now have their bouquets laid on the tomb the day after the wedding and all of the official wedding photographs have been taken. It is also the only tomb not to have been covered by a special red carpet for the wedding of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons, wife of King George VI.

When Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi ideologist, visited Britain on a diplomatic mission in 1933 he laid a wreath with a Swastika on it at the tomb. A British war veteran threw it into the Thames.

Before she died in 2002, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (the same Elizabeth who first laid her wedding bouquet at the tomb) expressed the wish for her wreath to be placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Her daughter, The Queen, laid the wreath the day after the funeral.

[Liz]

Lords and Ladies of The Realm, wedding gown designer Sarah Burton. also
designed this scrumptious gown Kate wore to her wedding reception. Retro
all the way----short angora sweater over a pure white gown w/ jeweled belt.

[STARWISE]

LOVED it (but something IS wrinkled and not smoothe in “the girls” area .. ;)

[Liz]

I hate to mention it-—but one designer did say the wedding gown was padded at the waist b/c Kate is so thin-—this also looks like padding.

[STARWISE]

Dearlord .. I’ll say she’s thin. What is her waist .. 16” ???

[maggief]

It WAS a wonderful day, and great thread ... such a much needed respite from the dire issues we deal with every day.

Alas, ‘tis time to retire my royal tiara to the vault and get my common a$$ back in the archives. There is so much work to do ... *sigh*