Save The Date: Westminster Abbey, April 29, 2011
Posted November 23, 2010 9:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The date and venue have been set for the wedding royal watchers have been waiting years for.
Prince William and Kate Middleton will wed in London’s 1,000-year-old Westminster Abbey, where Princess Diana’s funeral was held. Despite the enormity of the building – it holds more than 2,000 people – the couple chose it because it also has a strong sense of intimacy, according to the prince’s private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton.
The service will be held on April 29, 2011.
And for those who don’t much care for the monarchy, there will still be reason to celebrate: the wedding day will be a public holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland is also expected to declare a public holiday.
The cost of such a lavish and historic event may have many grumbling already, but Lowther-Pinkerton said the royal family and the Middletons, who are self-made millionaires, will pick up the tab for the wedding, reception and honeymoon, except for security.
The couple decided against reciting vows in St. Paul’s Cathedral, where William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married in 1981. Westminster Abbey was the venue for the weddings of Queen Elizabeth II and her mother.
British queens and kings are crowned in the ancient abbey and 17 monarchs are buried there.
The Prince and Middleton are surely hoping for better matrimonial luck than that of some other royal pairs. The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret’s marriage ended in divorce, as did Princess Anne’s and Prince Andrew’s.
