We have some exciting royal wedding news! And please, don’t start in on me on how no one cares about the royal wedding. While I think Prince William and Kate Middleton are two extremely boring people, their wedding and everything around the wedding is fun and interesting. Take for example the “break with royal tradition” regarding who pays for the wedding. While every other royal wedding is paid for – in full – by the royal family (the taxpayers?), Kate’s parents are being allowed to contribute to the cost. We’ve heard that before, and now we have some (speculative) data. According to British reports, the Middletons are contributing 100,000 pounds (about $160,000). The Middletons’ seem to be paying for all of the dresses for the bridal party, plus hotel accommodations for the bridal party. People Magazine also has a good story on where Kate and William might be going on their honeymoon (hint, not Mustique or Scotland):
Kate Middleton, who spent a few years of her childhood in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan, may now heading back there – for her honeymoon.
The historic site of Petra and the valley of Wadi Run are said to be on the travel itinerary for Prince William and his bride for a week after their April 29 wedding.
Camping out in the desert and swimming in the Dead Sea would definitely appeal to the sporty, outdoors-loving pair, and they would certainly receive a warm welcome from two of their wedding guests: King Abdullah and Queen Rania.
Palace aides won’t comment on the claim, made in the Sunday Telegraph, saying that the couple’s post-wedding break will be private.
Those close to them tell PEOPLE they’re hoping that wherever the couple end up (and the Seychelles, Mustique and even Corfu in Greece have been mentioned), they will be left alone to enjoy the vacation without intrusion from the media.
The Telegraph says Jordan is the couple’s “preferred option,” and they are “believed” to have booked a special tour of the historic sites in a week-long trip. It also suggests that William, 28, and Kate, 29, will enjoy some time in the U.K., possibly at one of the royal estates such as Balmoral.
Kate lived in Amman, Jordan for nearly three years, beginning in 1984, and she attended nursery school there. When the palace and the Middleton family released a set of family pictures, one showed Kate and her father Michael relaxing on an outing in the country.
Petra and the valley of Wadi Run were also used as locations in the David Lean epic Lawrence of Arabia, and Steven Spielberg used the dramatic landscape of Petra as a backdrop for Indiana Jones.
[From People]
Wow, that sounds like a really nice honeymoon. That sounds like the kind of honeymoon someone like me would enjoy, so obviously, I doubt it will happen. They’re so boring! They won’t do anything this interesting for their honeymoon.
Let’s see, what other news is there? Well, a British official wants to change the rules of succession so that if Kate and William’s first-born is a girl, that daughter will not be “overlooked” in favor of male heirs, like a younger brother. Oh, and British writer Martin Amis kind of hates the royal family, so obviously the British tabloids are saying that he hates his country. Ha! One last thing: The Lifetime movie Will & Kate comes on tonight at 9 pm!!! I’m so excited.
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Photos courtesy of WENN.
not to hijack your post, but on twitter people are acting as if the designer for her wedding dress has been confirmed:
sophie cranston
http://fashionista.com/2011/04/report-kate-middletons-dress-designer-revealed/
Does anyone care?
I care, I’m interested! Can’t wait for the super cheesy lifetime show.
Oh, I’m a little excited. My husband was reading a poll where it said how many people planned to watch the wedding and he was aghast that so many people were going to. I just looked away and hoped he didn’t realize what I’ll be doing on the 29th.
Hope the revolution greets them with flying slippers and shoes with signs saying ” We don’t want our royals what makes you think we want YOU – fuck off and take the Jordanian royals with you!”
Kate – God I hope that laxative doesn’t kick in. Must carry on.
Wills – Come along now. Be strong, Dear.
Kate – So hungry. I know! Biting my cheeks really hard should do the trick.
Kate – Good show, old girl! At least I’m not well upholstered as some of these people.
Kate – Must Act natural…Show the Ring.
Wills – Good show. Candid Ring shot accomplished.
I’m very interested in the wedding! Keep up with the royal gossip!
I’m obsessed with the royal wedding.
Question: What is this rule about male heirs taking the throne? If that has been the case how is it that Queen Elizabeth was not passed over for another male relative?
I’m interested! I can’t wait until the 29th. If you don’t care about the Royal wedding, why read a post and comment on the royal wedding?
Ignore grumpy bitches! I love this shit. Please keep covering the wedding.
For the record I’m Arab so I’m not happy hearing this news, has nothing to do with being a bitch or grumpy. I just don’t want ANY royals in my life anymore and neither do my people. They want a honeymoon thats a given but NOT here, not while my people are literally being killed off by the people this family regards as friends – so wrong. If they do honeymoon here I’ll definitely have shoes and slippers in a box waiting for them.
My girl pals and I are all getting up early to watch the wedding. The pageantry, the hoopla, the history, it’s fun!
Agreed, i am interested in this royal wedding for the pure cheese of it all!
Question: Does anyone know what time it will be airing in the U.S. and what time it will be starting?
Kate is sure beautiful, but she looks like a generic, pretty minor TV star. You know, the type who plays the mom of a child victim in crime dramas like CSI or the roles reserved for Michelle Monaghan before she moved to a higher notch. I see Kate all the time, yet I could not remember her face. Without Prince William by her side, I would think that’s Katie Holmes on the 2nd pic, and Celine Dion on the third.
I will be repulsed if they do come here and honeymoon; meanwhile miles away there are real people with real dreams dying for something they will never understand – while they frolic in their bathing suits, drink cocktails and bask in the sun. It’s disgusting even if it’s just a rumor; it repulses me. It better not be true.
I like these two. I watched Diana get married. I cried (to my own surprise) when she died. I find nothing about these two worth catting about. They’re cute.
Ok. Will DOES need to give in and just ask for the #2 shears.
There is no male heir rule in England since 16th century effectively. First reigning queen was Mary I., an elder sister of the more famous Elisabeth I. In 13th century`s England Matilda inherited the throne from her father, too, but it is disputed if than England succession`s rule evven allowed it. Today`s next possible female monarch would be Andrew`s elder daughter Beatrice.
If thats the case then why do people say Kate would be the queen and Will the King?
viper, stfu dude.
@Relli: E! will be streaming live from London from 4am-2pm EST on April 29th.
I hope they honeymoon at Lake Vostok.
Kazoo, I’m not a dude. As for that insult I’m better than that so I’ll just say that nothing I said was unethical or unfounded. If you have an issue with it – that’s your problem. But I’m not going to insult you in fact I encourage you to speak your mind; so please continue.
I admire Viper’s fire. Shokran.
@Trillion
Wa Shokran kathiran 3lek (ki?).
They should totally hire lookalikes to lie around in Barbados and throw the media off the scent.
The current queen had no brothers at all, so she was queen. Prince Charles is next in line to be ruler, even though he has an older sister. There is some skipping around allowed if the next in line isn’t ‘suitable’ (I was watching a show about the Duke of Windsor and Elizabeth’s dad and how they might have skipped both of them and gone to some cousin). I’m sure someone with better knowledge will correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m interested and I’ll be watching even though the actual ceremony will start at 3:00am Pacific.
I like gossip and entertainment which is why I’m here. Yeah, opinions are important, but I get so tired when people hijack a fun topic with it all. When I want to be serious I go elsewhere.
I would also like you to keep the RW stories coming! So excited. My friends and I are going to watch it at 3 am and wear random bridesmaid dresses. So much fun I can’t wait!
I am especially happy that the Royal Wedding will keep the media attention off the Khardasians and Charlie Sheen for awhile! hee hee
@bluhare, exactly. if i want essays about the state of jordan, i’ll go to cnn or bbc.
and everyone’s a dude.
gabrielle, thank you for that info! i was only a baby when diana & charles married, so i’m kinda excited to watch this wedding in real time. LOL.
Viper; that’s quite a strong reaction. Repulsed???
I’m looking forward to watching their wedding. I love the pageantry of it all!
You have to know the history of the middle east to understand Viper’s reaction. It’s completely justified.
Skibunny when all you see are children, women running for their lives as they are being shot at and killed, women raped openly in front of the world to see then kidnapped only to be raped again and again, women running for reporters to tell the word whats happening here, while men ( with no military training – are taking arms to fight against the friends of this royal family)are getting killed off with British supplied weapons that had been accumulated for decades – and the only thing people are thinking about is this wedding. Then the idea that a honeymoon being spent HERE of all places is just so …. indescribably wrong/evil I can’t even think of a word to best describe how wrong it is.
Of course I am passionate about this, these are my people that are dying in front of me. And it’s this family whose closest friends who are killing us (Saudi and on) I don’t care if Kate spent four years or forty years here – it is not the time nor the place to have a ‘ROYAL’ ( whatever that means) honeymoon – when just kilometers away is the local population being torn to pieces by their hosts! It really is sick- I’m sorry but it really is sick.
I wonder where humanities conscience and reason has gone. Whoever has stolen it please bing it back!
I swear to God there is nothing more important to me and all my people than this revolution, and there is no way in hell we are going to welcome anymore royals. Ilhar kilkom!
@9 & 26, I know this through some study and research, but it’s not my field, so add a grain of salt.
As far as I know, succession goes through the male heirs first before the female heirs. So, Elizabeth’s heirs (ignoring her grandkids) are Charles (firstborn, male), Andrew (third-born, male), Edward (fourth-born, male) and then Anne (second-born, female). Since her firstborn male heir has offspring, then next in line to the throne is William, then Harry. If William had been a girl, Charles’ heir would have been Harry first, then Williamina. But they would still go through all the firstborn male heirs first, male and female, before switching over to the next male in line (Andrew), which is why Elizabeth is Queen, and not her uncles.
Line of succession is also counted from the last person in line, so if Charles died tomorrow, without ever being King, William is still next in line for the throne. You have to exhaust all heirs in the first hereditary line before going on to the next line.
Of course, historically, this hasn’t always been the case due to politics/religion, but that’s the general pattern.
Also, marrying a monarch does not make you reigning Queen/King; usually there is a courtesy title (Diana was not Princess Diana but instead, Diana, Princess of Wales, as opposed to Anne, Queen Elizabeth’s daughter, who is Princess Anne, Princess Royal because she is royal offspring).
Elizabeth’s husband is consort but was officially titled Prince on a decree of Elizabeth’s, I believe. So, eventually Kate (and Camilla) will be queens by marriage, but usually, they are usually called by some title (Queen or Princess) consort (Queen Consort, Prince Consort, like Victoria’s husband Albert) except Elizabeth’s husband, due to his being granted the title of Prince, period.
Oh my. Who knew the mention of a honeymoon in Jordan would elicit such a response?? Wow.
ITA with Kaiser – Wills and Kate are boring but I think the wedding will be interesting. But I’m not planning to get up in the middle of the night to watch it live! Peace out!
Poor Kate is already looking haggard in some of those pics. I hope she gets a nice honeymoon before she gets placed in her fishbowl. I’m not staying up like I did for Diana when I was a little girl but I want to see the dress.
Viper is right. Quite politically incorrect for royals to party in a country where people are sacrificing their lives for the simple right to vote.
If they are so hot to honeymoon in the Middle East, they should consider one of the countries that has succeeded in the fight for democracy.
@EdithP Charles is the Queen’s first born child. Charles’ sister, Anne, is younger than him.
@leuce7 – Thanks for the info, but I am still confused. If the crown passes to the male heirs I still don’t understand how Elizabeth became queen. I guess I can do some of my own research too. I am obsessed with royalty and titles and such. Of course I am safely on the other side of the pond so it is just romantic ideas I like about it. I don’t think I would really tolerate someone claiming to be “royalty” if it was my country.
And I too love the gossip on the RW so keep it up. I found myself wondering why they can’t have this wedding moved up a few hours to accomodate the United States. LOL
Watching the Lifetime movie now. It’s so bad it’s fantastic!
OK, no, it wasn’t so bad it was fantastic. It was just SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD.
TG: Elizabeth became Queen because she did not have any brothers. Only when there are no direct males heirs, does a female “get the chair”. Her father was king, she was his direct heir. If Elizabeth and Margaret had had a younger brother, he would have taken the throne first. Males first. There’s even a name for it, Primogeniture. Nasty sounding. But males take priority over females in line to thrones, and all other noble titles as well. For instance; there would never be a female Duke of Wellington in her own right. Just a duchess consort married to the duke.
Sweden did away with this custom of males first, which is why Victoria will the Queen of Sweden and not her younger brother.
Viper: I, for one, agree with you and well stated.
Viper; I understand and you are right. It’s not the time or the place. I am sorry this is happening to you and your people. One can only hope some good will come from this revolution.
I hope I dont come across as insensitive to the issue. But you can’t blame the supplier of these weapons. Weapons can and would be supplied by others. Whose pulling the trigger? Weapons are useless without man.
Kate looks very thin. But still beautiful.
skibunny many country have and always have refused to deal in arms in this region. England has and still is a HUGE benefactor of these conflicts, right along side the US. They jumped at the chance to sent secret special forces into Libya during the beginning of the conflict; and it was toward the oil fields. They weren’t there for our welfare they were hoping to grab only the biggest oil garb in the area.
THEN to add to that they deemed it morally unethical to ARM THE CIVILIANS – heaven forbid we should DEFEND OURSELVES. So instead of giving the means of defense they opted for an no fly zone …which doesn’t do crap when its urban warfare. Meanwhile nobody hears of the horror storied of Jordan because Jordan has had a long history of knowing how to hide their crimes – and the king and queen of Jordan are invited to Will and Kates wedding…and now a honey moon in Jordan…
So while you say that Britain isn’t responsible for its weapons being used against an innocent population ( which makes no sense ) where is the logic when those weapons can be distributed to the innocent population when they ask for it and are refused? I mean come on now, its okay for HIM to have British weaponry and oppress the people; but not okay for the people who are fighting for their freedom? I’m sorry this makes no sense there has to be accountability and the fact is Britain has always been the friend of homicidal terrorist tyrants and can sleep at night.
Had we not risen up against these royals and these tyrants after literally 4 generations of Arabs have gone oppressed by the powers that be, the British and the US and France and just about all the west would still be praising them and handing them more tools to use against their own people. If this doesn’t haunt you then I have failed to plead to your conscience and I damn myself for my failure. Peace (salam)
@viper – to digress, I never realised you were Jordanian, I assumed you were American. Anyway, my question is that I always thought that the wadi near Petra was the Wadi Rum, not Run. Which is correct, or does a quirk of translation mean both could be accurate?
I can understand their desire to honeymoon in Jordan, especially as Wills at least studied art history at uni before changing. Ever since being taught about Petra, I’ve been aching to visit Jordan and Syria. And especially as I used to have a TE Lawrence obsession (yes I know the controversy and Robert Fisk’s opinions especially). Eventually I will. Perhaps.
Which is why I’m ashamed to say that I never heard of these atrocities in Jordan. As far as I’m aware Jordan is well regarded in my country (Ireland), so perhaps it means that such news just doesn’t filter through. I should read more Robert Fisk.
#42 “Primogeniture” isn’t “nasty sounding,” it’s just a word.
It comes from Latin and obviously primo means ‘first’ and genitura means ‘birth’ or from birth.
My mother is latina, speaks Spanish and I am her first born daughter. She has often called me her “primogenita.” It’s cute and not “nasty.”
It’s one thing to criticize the monarchy and how they bypass girls (I totally agree with you on that.)And another to diss a word or term that has legitimate roots in Latin and can be found in it’s original form in the romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian). It kind of hurt me.
Ok, that’s it.
These two are so boring! I van’t believe the Brits are still putting up with this family using THEIR money to frolic around and go on vacations.
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