A decade of love: Will and Kate’s 10 best moments
As William and Catherine celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, we look back at our favourite photos
From sadness to joy - this week marks the tenth anniversary of William and Catherine’s wedding. Here are our favourite moments:
The wedding: April 29, 2011: When William wed Catherine in front of 1900 guests in Westminster Abbey in April 2011, the ceremony, watched by two billion people worldwide, was joyous. From Kate arriving in a Rolls Royce, to her Alexander McQueen dress nearly being eclipsed by sister Pippa’s bottom, the nation and the world, celebrated.
Hollywood tour: July 9, 2011: When the newlyweds took a tour of Canada and the USA, they made an unforgettable stop in LA for BAFTA. Kate sported a lavender Alexander McQueen gown and stars, including Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman literally lined up to meet them.
First photos of Prince George: August, 2013: On July 22 2013 Prince George Alexander Louis was born and Catherine duly stood on the steps of St. Mary’s Hospital like Diana, showing off her baby son. But it was the first official photos of the new family that we love. They were snapped by Michael Middleton in the garden of their family home.
Tour of Australia and New Zealand: April, 2014: Just like Charles and Diana took baby William with them to Australia, William and Catherine embarked on their tour Down Under with eight-month old George, who stole the show.
Birth of Princess Charlotte: May 2, 2015: Two years after her brother, there was more joyous baby news when Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana arrived. Once again, Catherine heroically posed on the hospital steps for official pictures, before William proudly clicked the car seat in and drove the family home.
A visit with the Obamas: April 22, 2016: Not many royals greet presidents in their pyjamas, but that’s what the exquisitely-cute George did, in his monogrammed dressing gown and slippers, no less, when Barack and Michelle Obama paid a visit to Kensington Palace in April 2016.
Birth of Prince Louis: April 23, 2018: In April, 2018, Prince Louis Arthur Charles arrived a few days before the couple’s seventh wedding anniversary. This time, it was Catherine behind the camera snapping the adorable first official photo of Louis, cradled in Charlotte’s arms on her third birthday.
Charlotte’s first day of school: September 5, 2019: When George started school at Thomas’s Battersea in September 2017, it was down to Daddy to take him because Catherine was suffering with morning sickness. But two years later when Charlotte joined, both parents were there for the big moment.
Clapping for carers: April 23, 2020: When the pandemic hit, William and Catherine sprang into action and spearheaded campaigns to support frontline workers, such as gathering all three kids for the Clap for Carers, where Brits stood on their doorsteps every week and applauded the NHS.
A Kensington family Christmas: December, 2020: At the end of a difficult year, William and Catherine gave a few rare glimpses of their family life, by taking the clan to the panto in London for a charity performance for key workers’ families and afterwards releasing a sweet family Christmas card.
Four royal weddings and a funeral
It was the last of the grand royal weddings - and we’ll never see the likes of it again, Kerry writes in this week’s column for The Sunday Telegraph.
Ten years ago, William and Catherine walked down the aisle in Westminster Abbey, in a lavish, but considered modern at the time, event. But nobody could have predicted just how pared-down things would become over the following decade. Four Royal Weddings and a Funeral later, the pomp is fast going out of the ceremony.
Back in 2011, the couple had a traditional royal wedding, but with the edges knocked off, compared to previous occasions. We had the crowds – one million on the streets, two billion TV viewers and a 1900-strong guest list, but instead of the glass coach of Lady Diana’s day, the bride arrived by Rolls Royce and hadn’t been locked in Clarence House, but rather living with her long-term boyfriend.
Watching footage of the wedding today, you can’t help being struck by the crowds lining London’s streets, whooping and waving flags – a concept almost forgotten, thanks to the pandemic, as evident by last weekend’s funeral for Prince Philip.
Fast forward seven years for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s equally joyous nuptials, smaller, although still a big affair by normal people’s standards. This time it was in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with 600 guests, swapping the dignitaries for celebrities and the Bishop of London for US preacher Michael Curry. Five months later, Princess Eugenie repeated the ceremony in Windsor, again on a relatively “small” scale, although like Harry and Meghan, she did invite her celebrity pals.
Whatever plans Princess Beatrice had for her big day, in the end it was the most modest of all, with lockdown meaning she tied the knot last July in splendid isolation at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Royal Lodge, in Windsor. She wore one of the Queen’s a re-worked vintage Norman Hartnell gowns and for what it’s worth, we think hers the loveliest wedding of all. By the time we got to Philip’s funeral last weekend, there were no crowds at all and just 30 mourners in the chapel.
It will be a long time before any more royal weddings – the last of the grand-children, Louise and James, are only 17 and 13. And it will be 20-25 years before we see Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis tie the knot. By then, their parents’ “modern” wedding will look as outdated as Charles and Diana’s in 1981 and the guest list – and the monarchy – significantly stream-lined.
The Queen and Prince Louis’ birthday bond
As the Queen turned 95 on Wednesday, she broke her silence since Philip’s death with a rare personal message marking this ‘period of great sadness’; two days later, Louis, her great-grandson, celebrated his third birthday on April 23, with both days appropriately low-key.
Coming only five days after Philip’s emotional funeral, the Queen gave an insight into how she’s coping in her moving birthday statement. “My family and I would like to thank you all for the support and kindness shown to us in recent days,” she wrote. “We have been deeply touched, and continue to be reminded that Philip had such an extraordinary impact on countless people throughout his life.” She spent the day quietly at Windsor Castle, walking her puppies, Fergus (a dorgi) and Muick (a corgi) around Frogmore House, and seeing family such as the Wessexes, Prince Andrew and Princess Eugenie.
Meanwhile, Prince Louis had a big week with his first day at the Willcocks Nursery School and birthday. He celebrated with family Zoom calls and a tea party with George, 7 and Charlotte, 5. We’re betting Kate made his birthday cake. “I love making the cake,” she once told Mary Berry. “It’s become a bit of a tradition that I stay up ’til midnight with ridiculous amounts of cake mix and icing and I make far too much. But I love it.”
Another reason why Sophie Wessex is a royal superstar
Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, stood out in recent weeks, while supporting the Queen and speaking on behalf of the family, but to be fair, this royal has always been a real diamond. Back in September 2016, Sophie cycled 450 miles from Edinburgh to London as part of her Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Diamond Challenge. It took her seven days to pedal from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to Buckingham Palace. She definitely earned that DofE pin. And our total respect.