Prince William Announces Engagement To Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton and Prince William (AP)

It's a moment 28 years in the making: Prince William, second in line to the British throne, is engaged to his college sweetheart Catherine "Kate" Middleton. An announcement was issued from Clarence House, the residence of Prince William's father, Prince Charles: "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. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course."

The couple, both 28, met at St. Andrews University and have had an on-and-off relationship for the past eight years. Prince William proposed while they were traveling in Kenya last month. The NY Times notes:

Their engagement is a break from longtime royal tradition for a number of reasons. Unlike other future queens, Miss Middleton, who comes from Bucklebury, in Berkshire, is not of royal, or even aristocratic, lineage. Her father is a former airline pilot and her mother a former flight attendant; together they run a successful mail-order business that sells paraphernalia for children’s parties.

Also — in contrast to couples like Prince Charles and his first wife, the late Diana, Princess of Wales — they have been conducting their relationship openly for years. When Charles proposed to Lady Diana Spencer, the daughter of an earl who was deemed a suitable match for him, the two barely knew each other.

According to the Guardian, "Kate Middleton will be the first commoner to marry an heir presumptive to the throne in more than 350 years, since Anne Hyde wed the Duke of York, later James II, in 1660."

Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981

While British politicians have been offering congratulations, a group who wants to end the monarchy offered, "We mustn't see the government wasting limited resources paying for a major set-piece event … if people are being told to tighten their belts, if the government is making thousands unemployed, if welfare payments are being slashed, it would be sickening for the government to allow a single penny more to be spent on the royals at this time."

The marriage of Prince William's parents was watched by 750 million people worldwide (here's New York Magazine's cover story on it), and his romance with Middleton has been followed breathlessly by American publications and the Daily Beast's founder-newly announced editor-in-chief of Newsweek, Tina Brown, who wrote a biography of Princess Diana, has followed the royal family for decades and offered her thoughts on the engagement this morning on Good Morning America (apparently the wedding was called off earlier this year because of royal bungling!). Now, to compare Middleton to "Shy Di" and to wonder who will design her wedding gown!

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By Jen Chung in News on November 16, 2010 9:18 AM

Comments [rss]

potsmoker

id hit it, bet anybody with some photos of seashky pooon pixx is either gonna be a rich man or a dead man...

StedyRuckus

I'd hit it.

matty

me too. i like your style.

La Flama Blanca

What a wonderful day - I couldn't be happier! Maybe if you Americans had remained loyal subjects, you too could be bathing in the glory of a royal union that renews and reanimates our precious, God-beloved commonwealth. Long live the King and Queen!

. . . and he plays polo. Polo!

Wait, was it William or Harry who thought it would be funny to dress up as an SS officer?

Dogsbody

I'm no supporter of the Royal family (see above), but people have to pull the stick out of their ass about the whole "dressing as a Nazi" thing. It was a costume party, and it was funny. Get over it. I've dressed as worse.

Boogie Down

Oh, come on. Don't leave us hanging like that. Tell us about your outlandish fancy dress.

Dogsbody

I'd rather not mention directly who I dressed as, simply because if anyone I know reads this blog they'd probably be able to guess my identity (and thus reveal how much time I spend commenting on here when I should be doing other things). Lets just say it was a real-life character who's been in the news a lot since 2001, and the costume might not have gone down well in NYC.

matty

Giuliani. What do I win?

Dogsbody

Ah if only I had a friend who could have dressed as Giuliani, we'd have made a great double team. If only I had a friend...

But yeah, Tien Mao wins.

tien

Osama?

chuzzlewit

aaaw man - i was so going with paris hilton...dammit.

Boogie Down

Ya think?

matty

It was Harry. And he dessert commander. Think Rommel. Anyway, he was whisked off and turned into a soldier soon afterward.

Not really sure what he was thinking, but probably nothing. hah.

OSN!

A 'commoner'....how sweet, I'm a 'commoner'. And if I was a Brit I'd be a 'commoner' and a 'subject'.

Now I don't give a rat's bum about this caca, but some of you guys are a little harsh; she's cute and he's not a bad looking dude. I saw a pic of him with a beard, dude looks better with a beard. No pun intended.

Dogsbody

Agreed - I think he at least looks like a male now. In his teen hearthrob days I never understood the fuss. He looked like a ugly girl with the face of a moomin.