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Past Royal Weddings in the United Kingdom Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 26 April 1923 Princes Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, November 20th, 1947 Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, July 31st, 1981

Anti-royal anarchist protesters in London thought to have been planning to behead effigies at the royal wedding were arrested on Thursday night, sources said. Police seized a guillotine as they arrested two men - aged 68 and 45 - and a 68-year-old woman thought to have been plotting disruption on the big day. It is understood one of the men arrested is Chris Knight, 68, head of the anti-royal anarchist group The Government of the Dead.

Did you ever notice that there is a different tone and feel to a wedding and the celebration that follows when a couple has been living together prior to taking their vows? Something is missing. Oh, it’s not the guests, the music, the cake, or the decorations. There is always plenty of that to go around. But something is lacking. I will go so far as to say that there is a special look that is absent in the way a co-habitating bride and groom even look at each other. There is no anticipation and no excitement of a new...

Paul Mealor is approaching a life-changing moment: the music he composed for the royal wedding will soar to the arched ceiling of Westminster Abbey on Friday, heard by hundreds of millions around the world. Mealor's composition of Ubi Caritas (Wherever charity and love are to be found, God is there) will be sung by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal immediately after the sermon Friday

Didn't get an invitation to Friday's big event? Well, don't feel too bad--you're in pretty good company. In a snub that's raised some eyebrows in Britain, neither of the country's two most recent former prime ministers received an invite. Also left out are President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. There's no place for either Tony Blair or Gordon Brown among the 1,900-member congregation, even though the other two living former British leaders, Baroness Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major, were invited. (Thatcher, 85, has declined, citing her health, but Major will be there.) Adding to the awkwardness, when Prince...

LONDON (Nov. 16) -- It's the stuff of fairy tales: A charming prince falls in love with a beautiful commoner, and eventually the two marry in a spectacular ceremony. Many girls might dream about such a royal romance, but for Catherine Middleton, the fairy tale may be coming true. When she walks down the aisle to wed Prince William next year, she'll be the first commoner in more than 350 years to marry the second-in-line to the British throne. But while the last one -- Anne Hyde, who wed the future King James II in 1660 -- was the child...

Rumor has it that Kate Middleton has picked British designer-to-the-stars Phillipa Lepley to create her wedding gown. Romantic flowers, majestic ballgowns and twinkly vintage lace are the way a British magazine described Phillipa Lepley’s 2011 bridal collection. With British bookmakers betting on Lepley, what will the London-based haute couture designer create for Middleton when she marries Prince William? “Kate will want to look drop dead elegant yet not over the top,” a fashion source says. So far, Lepley have made no comment, but Brits are abuzz over the designer who may create the wedding gown for England’s future princess.

Britain's royal wedding is receiving widespread indifference in the UK, with estimates showing that one citizen out of five are going away during the wedding period. Figures show, a record number of the British people are leaving the country thanks to a three-day work week created because of the four-day British Easter holiday plus another four-day weekend created by Friday's royal wedding (declared a national holiday) and the annual May Day holiday on Monday. Millions of people are taking the entire period off, with record numbers leaving the country because it is possible to have an 11-day vacation by taking...

Didn't get an invitation to Friday's big event? Well, don't feel too bad -- you're in pretty good company... In a snub that's raised some eyebrows in Britain, neither did the country's two most recent former prime ministers. Also left out in the cold are President Obama and the First Lady. There's no place for either Tony Blair or Gordon Brown among the 1900-member congregation, even though the other two living former British leaders, Baroness Thatcher and Sir John Major, were invited. (Thatcher, 85, has declined, citing her health, but Major will be there.) Adding to the awkwardness, when Princes...

“But you can’t avoid it,” says Jerzy Weirzbowski, an event planner. “That’s the thing. You go down for breakfast, and you just know it’s going to be there in the paper. William’s face. My [Polish] aunt keeps asking me to send her a plate. She already has a royal plate. How many does she need?” He did not mind it at first. The general consensus is that, except for the ardent anti-royalists, nobody really minds Prince William or the concept of his nuptials. At first, wedding news was even a nice break from Libya or Egypt. Then the wedding ate...

Except for the crowds and the gowns and the jewelry - on a certain level royal weddings over the years have been like many others. But royal weddings are different in one special way, as CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports: They all claim to be good business, so we're told. Jacqueline French, of London and Partners Tourism Promoters, says, "There's a here's a huge opportunity in London that comes from hosting such an event as the royal wedding. In fact if we have the same number of visitors who came to the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981,...

A hereditary monarch, observed Thomas Paine, is as absurd a proposition as a hereditary doctor or mathematician. But try pointing this out when everybody is seemingly moist with excitement about the cake plans and gown schemes of the constitutional absurdity's designated mother-to-be. You don't seem to be uttering common sense. You sound like a Scrooge. I suppose this must be the monarchical "magic" of which we hear so much: By some mystic alchemy, the breeding imperatives for a dynasty become the stuff of romance, even "fairy tale." The usually contemptuous words fairy tale were certainly coldly accurate about the romance...

Muslims Against Crusades has applied for permission to protest outside Westminster Abbey on the day of the royal wedding, Scotland Yard said. Muslim fanatics have warned they may burn Union Jack flags on the day of the Royal Wedding The force said it had rejected the application by Muslims Against Crusades to stage the demonstration outside the historic venue on April 29. But officers said they were in "on-going discussions" about whether demonstrations at other nearby locations would be blocked. Police have powers to ban any major protests along the main route that Prince William and his bride-to-be will take....

A WALT DISNEY FAIRY TALE IN A NON-FAIRY TALE WORLD - The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is nearly upon us. Cable news channels are ramping up for 24×7 coverage. Brits of all shapes and sizes are busting at the seams, and people around the world who yearn for the days of Princess Diana are coming out of the woodwork like crazy. Why? Think about it: On April 29, millions upon millions of people the world over will watch the wedding of a woman who is only famous because she is marrying a man who is only...

If you think I’m kidding about the “crisis” part, go look at Google News. There are seven full pages of headlines — and counting — since he chimed in.Alternate headline: “Jerry Seinfeld voices feelings of everybody in America.” The segment, taped in New York, was thrown back to the studio in London, where the show’s hosts were not amused.“How dare he!” chided anchor Christine Bleakley.Prim and proper Adrian Chiles was even more ruffled.“I’ll join in on any of that stuff, if it’s a Brit doing it. But I can’t bear Americans criticizing the Royal family,” he said. “It turns me...

Vice President of Tactical Intelligence Scott Stewart examines the complex security challenges presented by the British royal wedding. In this week’s “Above the Tearline,” we want to look at the royal wedding that’s going to happen on April 29 in London and discuss the security arrangements and the implications for the wedding. One of the things that happens when you have a high-profile media event is security. Of course, for the royal wedding in London, there are a number of security malefactors that must be guarded against. Some of them are fairly obvious, for example, you have the splinter factions...

Diplomacy: Well, it's out — the invitation list to the biggest U.K. royal wedding in three decades. A Mustique bartender merited an invite, but it seems the Obamas did not. It's pretty obvious the Brits are sending a message. Sure, the royal wedding is a ceremonial affair, and news that the U.S. president and first lady weren't invited to the nuptials of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 30 won't rupture normal diplomatic relations. Still, it's eyebrow-arching, given that U.S. presidents have always been invited up till now. And the slowly leaking list of people who did get invited...

What do Barack Obama and Muammar Gaddafi have in common? If you guessed that they're both Muslims, go to the front of the Tea Party. Their real commonality is that neither got invited to Prince William's and Kate Middleton's royal wedding. I can understand Ghaddafi's exclusion - probably bad form to have a guy in your party who's killing his own people. Besides, his wardrobe would clash with anything they'd wear. Plus he's pretty busy right now defying NATO and Anderson Cooper and most likely couldn't make it anyway. But what's with the President of the United States? He's in...

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – Don't get stressed and enjoy your big day is U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's advice to Prince William, fiancee Kate Middleton and their families ahead of the royal wedding next month. "My advice is just enjoy it, enjoy it because it's (the) most extraordinary experience to see your daughter marrying someone who loves her, who wants to take care of her and you just want to be part of their happiness." Asked if she would be watching William and Kate tie the knot the April 29 ceremony in London on TV, she said: "Of course,...

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle have not been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding. The Queen personally invited 40 heads of state, who received the gold-embossed invitations over the weekend to the April 29 wedding of the future king. The Obamas, however, were not among them. But they can take solace in the knowledge that they will be the guests of their very own state visit to the UK in May. There have been suggestions that the state visit – the first for a US President since 2003 – was set up in return for Obama...