GREETINGS FROM THE FLOWER ARRANGERS

Flowers are being delivered to Westminster Abbey. Six members of the National Association of Flower Arranging Societies are helping to prepare the flowers, all sourced from the UK. The flowers and plants include blossoms, azaleas, rhododendron, euphorbias, beech, wisteria and lilac.

Flower arrangers Norma Dobney and Jane Rowton-Lee send a message of congratulations to Prince William and Catherine Middleton ahead of their wedding on Friday. You can do the same by uploading your message to our official video Wedding Book on YouTube.

THE 2011 ROYAL WEDDING INVITATION

The gold-embossed invitations to the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton finally landed on doormats around the world this weekend after the couple spent weeks agonising over the guest list.

Close to 1,900 guests have been invited to Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29 – and more than half will be friends of the couple, The Mail on Sunday has been told. William and his bride-to-be have been allowed to invite more than 1,000 of their friends, by far the largest proportion of guests who will attend the service and the post-wedding breakfast at Buckingham Palace. Invitations were sent out via Royal Mail last Wednesday and Thursday.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that the Queen has personally invited 40 crowned heads from around the world – including the Middle East, despite the tumult sweeping the region – as well as the expected crowned heads of Europe. Among the surprise invitees are the King of Jordan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, the Sultan of Oman, the King of Bahrain, the Sultan of Brunei and the King of Saudi Arabia as well as the Emperor of Japan, the King of Malaysia, the King of Tonga and the King of Thailand.

Classic and elegant, the black text on the invitation – which has been issued in the name of the Queen – reads: ‘The Lord Chamberlain is commanded by The Queen to invite. . . to the marriage of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, K.G., with Miss Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on Friday, 29th April, 2011 at 11.00am.‘A reply is requested to State Invitations Secretary, Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Buckingham Palace.’

Gentlemen are required to wear uniform, morning coat or lounge suit. There is no dress code for female guests, although ladies will be required to wear a hat for the wedding service. Clarence House confirmed that more than 50 members of the Royal Family have been invited along with 40 members of foreign royalty.

THE ENGAGEMENT

'The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton. The wedding will take place in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London. Prince William and Miss Middleton became engaged in October during a private holiday in Kenya. Prince William has informed The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince William has also sought the permission of Miss Middleton's father. Following the marriage, the couple will live in North Wales, where Prince William will continue to serve with the Royal Air Force.'

BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE WILLIAM

Royalty. Born Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor, on June 21, 1982, the eldest son of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Charles, Prince of Wales. His official title is His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales.

William attended Mrs. Mynor's Nursery school in West London (1985-87), Wetherby School in Kensington, London (1987-90), and Ludgrove School in Wokingham (1990-95). In 1995, at the urging of his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William (nicknamed "Wills") entered Eton College, one of England's most prestigious secondary schools. A serious student with excellent grades, he also excelled in sports at Eton, particularly swimming. With his father and brother, he enjoys outdoor sports including riding, skiing, shooting and fishing.

As he is directly in line to the British throne after his father, Charles, he spends a good deal of time at Windsor Castle with Queen Elizabeth, who is very concerned with his upbringing and career development.

Affected by both his parents' divorce in 1996 and his mother's tragic death in 1997, the tall and handsome young William publicly stated his dislike for the press, and expressed discomfort with the growing attention he received from love-struck adolescent girls. William gives the impression of being a well-mannered, responsible and mature young man who shows a strong sense of duty and loyalty to the royal family, fully aware of the role he is to play in the future as the King of England.

Upon his graduation from Eton, William took a break from his studies to visit South America and Africa. He then attended Scotland's St Andrew's University, where he received a degree in geography in 2005. Following in the footsteps of his younger brother, Prince Harry, William joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as a military cadet and received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Household Cavalry in December 2006. In 2008, he was appointed to be a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. He is now training to be a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force.

Along with his military career, William supports numerous charities, including serving as patron to Centrepoint, an organization for homeless youth, and the Tusk Trust, which is dedicated to the preservation of African wildlife. In 2007, William and his brother Harry hosted a special concert to celebrate their late mother and raise funds for charities that Princess Diana supported during her life as well as charities supported by the princes.

IN FOCUS: KATE MIDDLETON

Kate Middleton was born January 9, 1982, in Berkshire, England, to pilot Michael and flight attendant Carole Middleton. In 1987, the Middletons founded their own party goods company, which helped to make them millionaires. Kate, the oldest of three children, has a younger sister, Philippa ("Pippa") and a younger brother, James. Middleton attended the exclusive St. Andrew's Prep School until she was 13 and then Marlborough College, where she passed 11 GCSEs and three A-level exams.

Like Prince William, Kate Middleton was a student at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, where she graduated in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in art history. In 2001, while in her second year at the University of St. Andrews, Middleton met Prince William of Wales. Since 2003, she and the prince have been in an on-again-off-again relationship that has been the subject of intense media scrutiny.

On November 16, 2010, it was announced that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged after the prince proposed during a vacation to Kenya. The wedding is scheduled for April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in London. The couple made plans to live in North Wales, where Prince William is stationed with the Royal Air Force, after their marriage.

THEIR LOVE STORY

Having been awaited and expected for many years, Prince William is eventually walking into the palace hall of the wedding ceremony with Kate Middleton, his fiancée also his girlfriend who he has spent eight years with.

The British Royal Family has announced that the wedding of Prince William will be held in Westminster Cathedral on April, 29th of 2011. Now Prince William has formally given Diana's sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring to his fiancée. It is said that the wedding will be the most ceremonious event for British Royal family in thirty years.

With all the grandeur and excitement brought by this royal affair, let's take a glimpse of their love story.

THE 1981 ROYAL WEDDING

Crowds of 600,000 people filled the streets of London to catch a glimpse of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on their wedding day in 1981. The couple were married at St Paul's Cathedral before an invited congregation of 3,500 and an estimated global TV audience of 750 million - making it the most popular programme ever broadcast.

THE ROYAL WEDDING MARCH

Lady Diana, 20, arrived almost on time for the 1120 BST ceremony after making the journey from Clarence House in the Glass Coach with her father, Earl Spencer. She made the three and a half minute walk up the red-carpeted aisle with the sumptuous 25 ft (7.62 m) train of her Emmanuel designed, ivory taffeta and antique lace gown flowing behind her.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Robert Runcie led the traditional Church of England service, but he was assisted by clergymen from many denominations. The bride's nerves showed briefly when she mixed up the Prince's names - calling him Philip Charles Arthur George, rather than Charles Philip.

Charles, 32, in the full dress uniform of a naval commander, slightly muddled his vows too, referring to "thy goods" rather than "my worldly goods". After a brief private signing ceremony the Prince and Princess of Wales walked back down the aisle to the refrain of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance.

The newlyweds took the open-topped state landau to Buckingham Palace where they emerged on the balcony at 1310 BST to give the crowds the kiss they had been longing to see. Afterwards Charles and Diana retired from the public gaze to enjoy toasts and a wedding breakfast with 120 family guests.

A "just married" sign attached to the landau by Princes Andrew and Edward raised smiles as the married couple were driven over Westminster Bridge to get the train to Romsey in Hampshire to begin their honeymoon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/29/newsid_2494000/2494949.stm

BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCESS DIANA

Lady Diana Frances Spencer, (Diana Frances Mountbatten-Windsor, née Spencer) (July 1, 1961–August 31, 1997) was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. From her marriage in 1981 to her divorce in 1996 she was styled "Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales". After her divorce from the Prince of Wales in 1996 Diana ceased to be the Princess of Wales and also lost the resulting Royal Highness style,[1] She received the title normally used by the ex-wives of peers, Diana, Princess of Wales under Letters Patent issued by Queen Elizabeth II at the time of the divorce.

Diana was often called Princess Diana by the media and the public, but she did not possess such a title and was not personally a princess, a point Diana herself made to people who referred to her as such. Contrary to belief, being Princess of Wales does not make one a princess in one's own right. It merely indicates that one was married to a Prince of Wales. Princesses in their own right only exist by creation of the monarch or by birth. Diana was in fact the first non-princess to be Princess of Wales for centuries. Previous Princesses of Wales, such as Alexandra of Denmark or Mary of Teck were already princesses by birth when they married a Prince of Wales.

An iconic presence on the world stage, Diana, Princess of Wales was noted for her pioneering charity work. Yet her philanthropic endeavours were overshadowed by her scandal-plagued marriage to Prince Charles. Her bitter accusations via friends and biographers of adultery, mental cruelty and emotional distress visited upon her, and her own admission of adultery and numerous love affairs riveted the world for much of the 1990s, spawning books, magazine articles and television movies.

From the time of her engagement to the Prince of Wales in 1981 until her death in a car accident in 1997, the Princess was arguably the most famous woman in the world, the pre-eminent female celebrity of her generation: a fashion icon, an image of feminine beauty, admired and emulated for her high-profile involvement in AIDS issues, and the international campaign against landmines. During her lifetime, she was often referred to as the most photographed person in the world. To her admirers, the Princess of Wales was a role model - after her death, there were even calls for her to be nominated for sainthood - while her detractors saw her life as a cautionary tale of how an obsession with publicity can ultimately destroy an individual.

http://www.biographyonline.net/people/biography_princess_diana.html

BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE CHARLES

The Prince of Wales, eldest son of The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born at Buckingham Palace at 9.14pm on 14th November 1948. A proclamation was posted on the Palace railings just before midnight, announcing that Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth had been safely delivered of a son. It was announced later that the baby Prince weighed 7lb 6oz.

On 15th December, Charles Philip Arthur George was christened in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher. The Prince's mother was proclaimed Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 25, when her father, King George VI, died aged 56 on 6th February 1952. On The Queen's accession to the throne, Prince Charles - as the Sovereign's eldest son - became heir apparent at the age of three.

The Prince, as Heir to The Throne, took on the traditional titles of The Duke of Cornwall under a charter of King Edward III in 1337; and, in the Scottish peerage, of Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

The Prince was four at his mother's Coronation, in Westminster Abbey on 2nd June 1953. Many who watched the Coronation have vivid memories of him seated between his widowed grandmother, now to be known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and his aunt, Princess Margaret.

He was invested as Prince of Wales by The Queen on 1st July 1969 in a colourful ceremony at Caernarfon Castle. Before the investiture The Prince had spent a term at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth, learning to speak Welsh. On 11th February 1970, His Royal Highness took his seat in the House of Lords.

On 29th July 1981, The Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral who became HRH The Princess of Wales. The Prince and Princess of Wales had two sons: Prince William, born on 21st June 1982; and Prince Harry, born on 15th September 1984.

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/personalprofiles/theprinceofwales/biography/