Why Kate and William’s Official Photo Points to a Happier Future than Charles and Diana

Happy: William and Kate surrounded by, clockwise bottom right, The Hon. Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Miss Eliza Lopes, Miss Grace van Cutsem, Lady Louise Windsor, Master Tom Pettifer, Master William Lowther-Pinkerton
The echoes of a Royal wedding from an earlier era are difficult to ignore.
The backdrop is the same: the opulent red-and-gold decor of the grand Throne Room at Buckingham Palace. And the mischievous smiles on the faces of some of the bridesmaids and page boys – and endearingly bewildered expressions on the others – are strikingly similar.
But, 30 years after the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the official wedding picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton also reflects the differences between the two couples’ relationships.

The 1981 wedding party. From back, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Diana and Charles, Edward van Cutsem; front: Lord Nicholas Windsor, Clementine Hambro, Catherine Cameron, India Hicks, Sarah-Jane Gaselee and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
The photograph of Charles and Diana, taken by Patrick Lichfield, seemed to capture a moment of spontaneous informality, with the wedding party collapsing in a fit of giggles. But, as we now know, the warmth was not reflected in the marriage itself.
By contrast, Kate and William’s picture, by photographer Hugo Burnand, appears more formal, despite little Tom Pettifer’s insistence on leaning in as close to the bride as possible.

Full of joy and not a care in the world: William and Kate smile broadly as they stand arm-in-arm in the official wedding album
Despite the organised nature of their shot, they look relaxed, their smiles unforced, and her hand rests on his knee.
Mario Testino may have received praise for his engagement portraits of William and Kate, but their choice of Hugo Burnand to take their official wedding pictures has cemented the latter’s status as the Royal Family’s favourite photographer.
Mr Burnand, 47, has been entrusted with capturing many of the Royals’ most important occasions in recent years, including Prince Charles’s 60th birthday and his marriage to Camilla. He has also won the respect of the Queen and Princes William and Harry after taking their pictures on previous occasions.

The family photo: Front row left to right is Grace van Cutsem, Eliza Lopes, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Queen, Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Louise Windsor, William Lowther-Pinkerton. Back Row left to right is Tom Pettifer, Camilla, Charles, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate, Michael Middleton, Carole Middleton, James Middleton and Philippa Middleton
 

An Old Harrovian and seasoned society photographer known for his charm and discretion, as well as his talent for portraits, Mr Burnand represents a more traditional choice than Mr Testino, who is famed for his glossy celebrity and fashion photoshoots.
However, Mr Burnand has photographed his share of A-listers, including Bill Clinton, President Mikhail Gorbachev, Baroness Thatcher, Victoria Beckham and Michael Jackson. He was also responsible for taking the pictures at the 1996 wedding of David and Samantha Cameron.
The Royal Wedding commission was a major coup for the London-based father of four, who has worked at Tatler magazine since 1993.
Yesterday, he described it as ‘the gig of the century’, adding: ‘It was amazing, incredible, and there were a couple of moments where I did pinch myself.’
Of the mood in the Throne Room, he said: ‘From where I was, and from their point of view, it was two families coming together and that was the feeling – the sense of family and love going between everyone.’
He described the happy couple as ‘just so nice as individuals and as a pair’, and revealed that Kate, who has worked as a photographer for her parents’ company Party Pieces, had contributed her own ideas for the pictures.
Mr Burnand got to know Prince William when he photographed him on his polo pony and at Windsor Castle as part of the wedding party for his father’s second marriage in 2005.
He shares with the Prince a tragedy in his past: he, too, lost his mother in a car accident. Susan Gordon died in 1964, the year after he was born.
His stepmother Ursy Burnand, whom his father Peter married in 1967, is also a photographer – and was one of his assistants on the Royal Wedding shoot.
Born in Cannes, France, Mr Burnand won his first photography competition at the age of seven, at Cheam School, which was also attended by Prince Philip and Prince Charles.
During his time at Harrow, he became the school’s unofficial photographer, taking portraits of school-leavers.
He did not become a professional photographer until 1991, after a string of jobs including stable hand and insurance broker.

Source: Dailymail

The Royal Wedding Of Prince Charles and Lady Diana 1981

The Royal Wedding Of Prince Charles and Lady Diana 1981 

 

 The Royal Wedding Of Prince Charles and Lady Diana 1981 (photos)

It was 29 years ago today, on July 29, 1981, that the world was captivated by the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. A global media event, it was televised live and watched by hundreds of millions of people. It was a fairytale wedding, one that would later give way to tabloid headlines about infidelity, including Diana’s admission in 1995 of her infidelity in an amazingly vulnerable and powerful interview on the BBC (see video), and taped conversations of Charles in love talk with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he would later marry. Charles and Diana would separate in 1992 and divorce in 1996. Just one year and three days after the divorce was finalized, Diana would die in an automobile crash in Paris with Dodi Fayed, son of Harrod’s owner Mohamed al-Fayed. The outpouring of grief over death was immediate and wrenching, and it is estimated that some 2.5 billion people around the world watched her funeral.

This photo captures the couple on their return to Buckingham Palace after their wedding, Diana’s smile and innocence captured so well by the photographer.

Royal newlyweds share first public kiss

Prince William & Kate balcony kisses complete wedding

 If you looked away from the screen for a moment, you probably missed it. It was a quick smooch. Kate turned to her groom, said something with a smile, and the prince reached over, rather hurriedly, and gave her a very quick kiss.

Maybe that's why he kissed her again.
The second kiss came just before the Royal Air Force flyover. Another first on a historic day: two kisses on the Buckingham Palace balcony by a newly married royal couple.

All eyes were on Prince William and Kate as they emerged from the palace onto the  balcony. Many among the boisterous gathered crowd and those watching around the world surely had one defining image in their minds: Princess Diana and Prince Charles' memorable wedding kiss.
It wasn’t traditional for royal couples to kiss in public following their weddings before the summer of 1981. And Prince Charles reportedly resisted breaking tradition when the crowds outside Buckingham Palace that historic July morning called out for them to kiss.
“I am not going to do that caper. They are trying to get us to kiss,” he said to Diana.
Diana’s reported response: “Well, how about it?” The prince hesitated, then said “Why ever not?”

And this image lives on as proof.
Sadly, the marriage did not live up to the sweetness of that first public kiss. And because of that, there is a lifetime of hope wrapped up in today’s royal smooch. The world wishes so much better for this young couple. They have come to marriage older, wiser, and by all accounts, truly in love.
The grand balcony has been the stage for vaulted royal appearances since 1851, when Queen Victoria stepped out onto it during celebrations for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London. The Great Exhibition was the first in a series of World’s Fair displays of culture and industry and attended by the likes of Charles Darwin and Charlotte Brontë.
Princess Anne was the first of Queen Elizabeth’s newly wed children to appear on the balcony with her new spouse, Captain Mark Phillips, in 1973. But they did not kiss.
Neither did Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex on their 1999 wedding day, though Prince Andrew did follow his elder brother’s lead when he kissed the Duchess of York on the balcony on their wedding day in 1986.
A new iconic royal kiss image is born. Long live the marriage.

Source: Yahoo 

Royal Wedding to serve as rehearsal for Queen funeral

Royal Wedding ‘to serve as rehearsal for Queen’s funeral’

 The Royal Wedding marks the beginning of a new generation of British royals, but sources are reporting the occasion will also serve as a rehearsal for a more sombre task: Queen Elizabeth II's funeral.

Senior palace officials will take full advantage of the presence of dignitaries and Commonwealth leaders to go through rehearsals necessary for the monarch’s funeral, the Sunday Express reports.
The 29 April wedding procession will use the same route as the sovereign's cortege, when a gun carriage will escort her coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.
According to the Express, the operation has discreetly been codenamed London Bridge.
"Obviously we all hope such a sad event will be a long way off - HM may be 84 but she's in very good health - yet we need to rehearse the logistics and timings for what will be a huge ceremony," The newspaper quoted a royal aide as saying.
"It may seem odd to think about his grandmother's demise at the same time as William's wedding but having all these diplomats and VIPs in London on 29 April makes it sensible to run through the procedures and things like seating plans.
"The Queen, who is very pragmatic about this sort of thing, knows about the dry run. The arrangements are reviewed annually and any significant changes have to be approved by her. There's no sentimentality involved on her part; she actually takes rather a keen interest in the details."

Source : Yahoo