Tears rolled down the bride's face as the choir sang a hymn sung during Diana's funeral, writes MARK HENNESSYin London
PLANNED TO the nth degree, it was a wedding that went without a hitch, bar a momentary difficulty suffered by the groom as he struggled to put the ring on the finger of his bride, Kate Middleton.
Clearly nervous as he arrived outside Westminster Abbey, accompanied by his brother and best man, Prince Harry, Prince William flexed his fingers to settle himself, before making his way in and past the 1,900 assembled guests.
By 11.07am, the bride was fashionably late as the two princes stood together at the altar, though Prince William did not look down the church as Ms Middleton, accompanied by her father, Michael, entered the abbey.
“Wait until you see the dress,” said Prince Harry. Still, Prince William did not look back. Moments later, she arrived in veil and lace.
The couple smiled at each other, the groom leaning forward to say, “You’re beautiful”.
In his address, the Bishop of London, Rt Rev Richard Chartres, quoted the words of St Catherine of Siena, whose festival day yesterday was: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
The world is full of fear for the future, he said, “but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one – this is a joyful day!”, though he was on slightly weaker territory, perhaps, when he said “in a sense every wedding is a royal wedding”.
Having listened to the couple’s pledges to each other, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, joined their right hands together, before declaring: “Those whom God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
The cheers from the crowds outside, hundreds of thousands of whom listened to the ceremony broadcast on speakers erected from the abbey, up Whitehall, down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, could be heard deep inside the abbey.
In a poignant moment, tears rolled down the bride's face as one of the three hymns sung during the service was Guide me, O thou great Redeemer– a hymn sung at the funeral in 1997 of Prince William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
“When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell’s destruction.
Land me safe on Canaan’s side,” the choir sang.
Leaving the abbey, the couple, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, prepared to take their place in the 1902 State landau used for King Edward VII’s coronation.
"I'm so happy," said the bride, according to a lip-reader retained for the day by the London Times.
Back at Buckingham Palace, thousands waited for their arrival, though the crowds did not swell to fill the Mall until the cavalcade had passed. Within minutes, however, it was a sea of faces, many carrying Union Jacks, some defaced with OKmagazine's logo.
Just one minute behind schedule, the couple, along with the other royals, appeared on the balcony, though both Prince William and his bride seemed uncomfortable, rigidly waving to the crowds below.
Some in the crowd called for “the kiss”, an experience described by the groom’s father as “that caper” when he stood on the same balcony in 1981 alongside Diana. Eventually, Prince William did, but so quickly that most missed it. Minutes later, he did so again, equally rushed.
Once they left the balcony, the police announced there would no more appearances, though some of the thousands who waited were rewarded shortly afterwards with a more relaxed view of the couple.
Heading for a reception in nearby Clarence House, the couple appeared in a 1969 Aston Martin, given to Prince Charles by his mother back then, complete with balloons and a Just Wed number-plate.
There, Prince Charles, who stood on a platform to make himself more visible to guests, joked that his elder son, unlike brother Harry, was following the male Windsor tradition of premature baldness.
Not everybody was impressed: “Even so long after ‘Charles ’n’ Diana’ was exposed as a sham act, Britain is still in thrall to a vulgar fascination with bloodlines and a barkingly insane notion of monarchy,” complained writer and journalist Will Self.
Relaxing after days of stress, a verger in Westminster Abbey looks set to become a Youtube star after he was caught on camera cartwheeling down the carpeted main aisle after the couple and guests had left: “It was long after the guests had left,” said a discomfited abbey spokesman.
Last evening friends and family gathered in Buckingham Palace.