![]() William and Catherine waving to the crowd at The Mall shortly after their wedding | |
Date | 29 April 2011 |
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Venue | Westminster Abbey |
Location | London, England |
Participants | Prince William Catherine Middleton |
The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. William was second in the line of succession to the British throne at the time, later becoming heir apparent. The couple had been in a relationship since 2003.
John Hall, Dean of Westminster, presided at the service; Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, conducted the marriage; Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, preached the sermon; and a reading was given by Catherine's brother James. William's best man was his brother Prince Harry, while Catherine's sister Pippa was the maid of honour. The ceremony was attended by the bride's and groom's families, as well as members of foreign royal families, diplomats, and the couple's chosen personal guests. After the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. As William was not the heir apparent to the throne at the time, the wedding was not a full state occasion, and details such as much of the guest list of about 1,900 were left for the couple to decide.
William and Catherine first met in 2001. Their engagement, which took place on 20 October 2010, was announced on 16 November 2010. The build-up to the wedding and the occasion itself attracted much media attention, being compared in many ways with the wedding of William's parents in 1981. The occasion was made a public holiday in the United Kingdom and featured many ceremonial aspects, including use of the state carriages and roles for the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry. Events were held around the Commonwealth to mark the wedding; organisations and hotels held events across Canada,[1] over 5,000 street parties were held throughout the United Kingdom, and about a million people lined the route between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace on the wedding day.[2] The ceremony was viewed live by tens of millions more around the world, including 72 million live streams on YouTube.[3] In the United Kingdom, television audiences peaked at 26.3 million viewers, with 36.7 million watching at least part of the coverage.