All eyes were on Prince William and Kate as they emerged from the palace onto the balcony. Many among the boisterous gathered crowd and those watching around the world surely had one defining image in their minds: Princess Diana and Prince Charles' memorable wedding kiss.
It wasn't traditional for royal couples to kiss in public following their weddings before the summer of 1981. And Prince Charles reportedly resisted breaking tradition when the crowds outside Buckingham Palace that historic July morning called out for them to kiss. www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel."I am not going to do that caper. They are trying to get us to kiss," he said to Diana.
Diana's reported response: "Well, how about it?" The prince hesitated, then said "Why ever not?"
And this image lives on as proof.
Sadly, the marriage did not live up to the sweetness of that first public kiss. And because of that, there is a lifetime of hope wrapped up in today's royal smooch. The world wishes so much better for this young couple. They have come to marriage older, wiser, and by all accounts, truly in love.
The grand balcony has been the stage for vaulted royal appearances since 1851, when Queen Victoria stepped out onto it during celebrations for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London. The Great Exhibition was the first in a series of World's Fair displays of culture and industry and attended by the likes of Charles Darwin and Charlotte Bront.
Princess Anne was the first of Queen Elizabeth's newly wed children to appear on the balcony with her new spouse, Captain Mark Phillips, in 1973. But they did not kiss.
Neither did Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex on their 1999 wedding day, though Prince Andrew did follow his elder brother's lead when he kissed the Duchess of York on the balcony on their wedding day in 1986.
A new iconic royal kiss image is born. Long live the marriage.
http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/a-line/prince-william-kate-balcony-kisses-complete-wedding/818
The Royal Wedding
Watch the British royal wedding live
by Claudine Zap, Mike Krumboltz and Chris WilsonThu, Apr 28, 2011 11:30 AM GMT+00:00
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Welcome to the royal wedding. Yahoo! presents live streaming video, courtesy of ABC News and hosted by Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters. Live coverage of everything from the guests to the dress, to the carriage ride and the balcony kiss continues through 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET. If you miss anything, stick around after that because Yahoo! will re-stream the ceremony.
The Royal Household has just announced that footage of the entire ceremony will be live-streamed on their official YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel. If you are just tuning in, the first guests are already inside Westminster Abbey. The relatives of the couple have now started arriving.
10.35 a.m. London time (2.35 a.m. PT/5.35 a.m. ET) The following members of the royal family leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey: Princess Anne and Vice-Admiral Timothy Laurence; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice; Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. They arrive at the Abbey at 10.40 a.m.
10.38 a.m. London time (2.38 a.m. PT/5.38 a.m. ET) Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall leave Clarence House for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 10.42 a.m.
10.40 a.m. London time (2.40 a.m. PT/5.40 a.m. ET) The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey. Let's hope the queen doesn't sleep through her alarm. 10.48 a.m. London time (2.48 a.m. PT/5.48 a.m. ET) The bridesmaids and pages leave the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 10.55 a.m.
10:51 a.m. London time (2:51 a.m. PT/5:51 a.m. ET) - Kate and her father Mike Middleton will depart the Goring Hotel via car, a somewhat controversial decision as it is the first time since 1963 that a royal bride has not arrived at the church by horse-drawn carriage. Their car will travel along The Mall, passing by Clarence House, Whitehall, and Parliament Square before arriving at the Abbey.
11 a.m. London time (3 a.m. PT/6 a.m. ET) - The service begins at 11:00 a.m. sharp, so turn off your cell phones and throw some butter on your popcorn. While the Dean of Westminster will conduct the church service, William and Kate will actually be married by Rowan Douglas Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The marriage service will be relayed by audio speakers along the procession route.
12.15 p.m. London time (4.15 a.m. PT/7.15 a.m. ET) - Following the ceremony, Prince William and Princess Catherine, now husband and wife, will return to Buckingham Palace in a procession of horse-drawn coaches (with the newlyweds in the 1902 State Landau carriage), passing by the thousands of well-wishers who will be lining the streets.
12.30 p.m. London time (4:30 a.m. PT/7:30 a.m. ET) - Once back at the Palace, the newlyweds will be met by the queen and enjoy a swanky champagne reception.
1.25 p.m. London time (5.25 a.m. PT/8.25 a.m. ET) - The couple and their families will take a moment to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony. Chances are William and Kate will share a kiss for the crowds and cameras.
[who's paying for everything?]
1.30 p.m. London time (5.30 a.m. PT/8.30 a.m. ET) - The royals watch a flypast by the Royal Air Force and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight before returning inside for the queen's reception.
7 p.m. London time (11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET) - Following that epic soiree, the Prince of Wales (William's father, Charles) will host a private dinner and dance, also at Buckingham Palace. This event will be for just the bride and groom's closest friends and family. If ever there was an opportunity for the Queen to bust out the Electric Slide, this will be it.
As the historic day approaches, the much-anticipated wedding of Britain's Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton has people around the world buzzing with excitement.
While millions will be in London for the big day, it's clear that people around the world have wedding fever. Google search trends show that in addition to the UK and the US, the top ten countries searching for “Royal Wedding” include places like Singapore and the Philippines. In response, we've been working to make as much of the big day as possible accessible to everyone. We previously announced the expansion of our Google Earth 3D imagery to offer a “Royals’-eye” view of the entire wedding procession, complete with 3D images of iconic landmarks and five species of digital trees that can be seen along the route.
The live stream will begin at 10:00am BST (9:00am GMT, 2:00am PT, 5:00am ET) on Friday, April 29, and will follow the wedding procession, marriage ceremony at Westminster Abbey and balcony kiss. Alongside the live stream, The Royal Channel will also feature live blog commentary of the event to give timely updates and insights as the day unfolds. For those of you in different time zones, the footage will be reshown in its entirety directly following the event and will be available in full on the site to view afterward.
More than 50 years ago, the marriage of The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, and Antony Armstrong-Jones was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television and had over 20 million viewers. This one is already heralded as the first of the Internet age, where for the first time in thousands of years of royal history, the moment will be captured online and preserved forever.
