Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge
The wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London. Prince William, second in the line of succession to Queen Elizabeth II, first met Catherine Middleton in 2001, while both were studying at St. Andrews University. Their engagement on 20 October 2010 was announced on 16 November 2010. The build-up to the wedding and the occasion itself attracted much media attention, with the service broadcast live around the world, and being compared and contrasted in many ways with the 1981 marriage of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. It was watched by a global television audience of over two billion. Much of the attention focused on Middleton’s status as a commoner (ie, not of royal blood or a part of the aristocracy) marrying into royalty. Hours before the service, the Queen granted Prince William the titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus . Upon her marriage, Middleton therefore became Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus, but is not styled as ‘Princess Catherine’. As William was not the heir-apparent to the throne, the wedding was not a full state occasion, with many details left to the couple themselves to decide, such as much of the the guest list of about 1900. It was, however, a public holiday in Great Britain and featured many ceremonial …