Americans wake before dawn to watch royal wedding - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader

Jen Barnette fills out a trivia sheet during a private party in indianapolis, Friday, April 29, 2011, before the start of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton. Some 2 billion people across the globe were expected to tune in as the future king and queen of England start their lives as husband and wife with the two simple words "I will." (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) AP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With dining chairs forming makeshift pews and tacky "Royal Wedding" t-shirts in lieu of formalwear, Jen Barnette and five bleary-eyed friends settled in her living room before dawn on Friday to watch Britain's Prince William marry his longtime sweetheart, Kate Middleton.

The festivities at Barnette's Indianapolis home kicked off Thursday night, with a round of trivia — "How much older is Cougar Catherine than William?" Answer: Five months — and "Kate-tails," a sapphire-blue vodka concoction served in a glass with a sugared rim, to match the colors of Middleton's engagement ring.

The friends were among an estimated 2 billion people worldwide who tuned in for the spectacle and pageantry of a royal wedding, including many in the U.S. who pulled all-nighters or dragged themselves out of bed to watch.

"This is our Super Bowl," said the 24-year-old Barnette.

Some of the East Coast parties kicked off at 4 a.m., two hours before the start of the ceremony in London's Westminster Abbey.

Hundreds of people, some waving small British flags and wearing fancy hats, watched the newest royal couple exchange their vows on the massive screen overlooking New York's Times Square.

Heather Mauro, a 28-year-old occupational therapist from Rockaway, N.Y., came with her mother and aunt. She wore a big round beige hat with gold trim.

"I thought she looked absolutely wonderful," Mauro said of the bride. "It brought me back to my wedding. It brought tears to my eyes. Everything was perfect, prim and proper, just like the English do."

A cheer went up at Walt Disney World's party in Orlando when Middleton emerged from her limousine outside the church and took her father's arm. About 300 guests, nearly all of them women and many wearing pajamas and tiaras, watched the ceremony in the park's Wedding Pavilion, which looks out on Cinderella's castle.

Orlando resident Angela Vanderjagt, 46, said she remembers watching Prince William's parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, get married in 1981. The newlyweds' union will be compared, fairly or not, to Charles and Diana's, which crumbled in spectacular fashion before her death in a Paris car crash in 1997.

"Diana would be thinking how proud she is of her son and how well he turned out, even with all the pressure. Unlike her, I think he's marrying for love. They're both marrying for love," Vanderjagt said.

About 220 miles above Earth, U.S. astronaut Catherine Coleman made sure NASA broadcast the live wedding coverage to the space station so that the crew could watch.

Michelle Ertel asked her husband to wear his tuxedo and act as a butler for about two dozen members of her women's club in Oviedo, Fla. Two large-screen televisions showed the wedding and Ertel, a 43-year-old communications consultant, asked her guests to each donate a special occasion dress for charity.

When Middleton got out of her car and revealed her ivory-and-white satin dress, which had a train over 2-yards long, Ertel's guests started cheering.

"We all just got goose bumps," Ertel said. "Her dress was simple and beautiful. It was amazing and she did not look nervous."

Restaurants and bars in many cities, including The Globe Pub in Chicago and the Rittenhouse Hotel restaurant in Philadelphia, hosted viewing parties. Some venues hung Union Jack flags or bunting, served traditional English fare and hawked royals-inspired cocktails such as "The Windsor Knot" and "The Bitter Queen."

More than two dozen people gathered at The Londoner, in Dallas, many wearing hats fit for a royal wedding or sequined tiaras provided by the pub.

After the newlyweds kissed on the palace balcony one person shouted "Kiss her again Will!"

And he did.

Episcopal and Anglican churches, too, opened their doors to those who wanted a more contemplative atmosphere to watch the wedding.

At the Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, which has centuries-old ties to the Church of England, congregants sat in pews and watched the event on a jumbo screen set up at the altar.

"Very tasteful," New Yorker Elise Salinger, 22, said of the bride's dress. "I'm glad it's a classic style, not ultra-modern, off the shoulder or a halter."

Dozens of people gathered at Chicago's Episcopal Church of Our Saviour to watch what they consider a major event in the Anglican religion.

"After the wedding was over with, we used one of the prayers for the royal family," parishioner Roger Gumm said. "It was lovely."

Barnette, who put her professional skills as an event planner to the test by staying up all night to turn her Indianapolis living room into her version of Westminster Abbey, said she believes many Americans are fascinated by Britain's royals because they are an indelible part of the British identity, and there is no American equivalent.

"I think because we don't have that here ... it's just something completely foreign to us," she said.

___

Rousseau reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Mitch Stacy in Orlando, Fla., Ula Ilnytzky in New York, Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Patrick Walters in Philadelphia contributed to this report. AP video reporter Ted Shaffrey also contributed.

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Newest Internet Meme: Royal Wedding Flower Girl Upstages Kate and Wills - PCWorld

Internet records were smashed Friday by the first royal wedding of the social media era, as streaming video enabled billions to avoid the event's brutal 2 a.m. wake-up call and watch the goings-on later instead of working.

But all the pomp and ceremony the British Empire can muster were outstaged in an instant by one pissed-off little girl.

With all 10 of the trending topics on Twitter and 1.6 million concurrent video streams, Friday's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton broke Internet traffic records previously set by the World Cup and the death of Michael Jackson, but the meme of the day came from flower girl Grace Van Cutsem.

Grace, age 3, is Prince William's goddaughter, and obviously less used to the roar of an RAF flyover than some of the other little royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

As Kate and Wills kissed, Grace grabbed her ears and then the Internet took over. You can see the results and little Grace later objecting to Donald Trump's trumpeting, Steve Jobs' pontificating, and Justin Bieber's singing.

Royal Wedding Flower Girl Image: Courtesy of BoingBoing

There was a lot more for little Grace to be outraged about, including Princess Beatrice’s attention-grabbing hat, immediately dubbed the “Cthulhu hat” by NBC correspondent Helen A. S. Popkin and fanned up on a dozen Facebook pages.

In case you don't know, the hat, like the H.P. Lovecraft character the Cthulhu, is described on Wikipedia as known for the extreme descriptions given of its hideous appearance, its gargantuan size, and the abject terror that it evokes.

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Royal wedding hats: Is that an octopus on your head? - Toronto Star

Princess Eugenie of York (L) and Princess Beatrice of York arrive to attend the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 in London, England.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Friday was a dark day in hat history. Crimes were committed that would harrow thy soul and freeze thy young blood. I offer Exhibit 1, Princess Beatrice’s blot on millinery, and throw my client on the mercy of the court. Not myself, of course, your Honour, as I have a number of other clients who have yet to enter a plea.

Beatrice is wearing what appears to be a mushroom-coloured silk doorknocker surrounded by an octopus in strangely Fallopian death throes. It might just as easily be an ancient birth control device known as a Dutch cap — they were still making them that beige colour in the mid-1970s — or a still-rolled condom combined with a snake metaphor, stuck for reasons best known to Beatrice on the top half of her face rather than her actual head.

The designer Valentino is alleged to be the culprit. He will do. Beatrice accepts responsibility for the makeup, which occurred while chimney-cleaning, it could happen to anyone, although not usually with such symmetry. Oh, just slide the hat further down, Beatrice, and be done with it.

Her sister, Eugenie, has taken a blue shape (I use them in my shoe-tips when travelling), shoved some purple kale into it and topped it off with too many hackle feathers, plus various stripped coques and those trembly things the Queen Mother used to wear. And yes, the birds suffered.

The genius of it is that it still isn’t as bad as what Beatrice is wearing.

Sorry, your honour? Yes, the blue horizontal thing on the side does appear to be a handle.

In their defence, these helpless young women may have been guided by their mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, who — and I submit a certain notorious video to the court — was drunk, simple as that.

Beatrice was misled, as were many women in the Abbey on Friday, by a man with a history. His name is allegedly Philip Treacy, hatmaker to the aristocracy, and he has made many wealthy women look stupid over the decades, although never Princess Diana who didn’t tolerate any nonsense.

Victoria Beckham’s hat crime is similar to Beatrice’s but blacker. The hat is pierced by a shrub that, by sheer coincidence, grows in my own garden. It’s called a corkscrew hazel. Beckham snipped a few twigs, spray-painted them black and stuck them in a pillbox.

Her husband is extremely handsome, a sculpted man who earns huge sums — how much? Squillions, your honour — hitting balls with his head and kicking them, repeatedly. Seated next to this paragon and pregnant to boot, her only option was to terrify.

Jackie Kennedy wore pillboxes on the back of her head, quite successfully. I have no explanation for the rampaging forehead thrust beyond the craving for notoriety, a curse of the modern age, as P.G. Wodehouse wrote almost a century ago. They would not listen, they’re not listening still, perhaps they never will.

Sorry, an ancient lyric that still appeals.

Hat crimes are not to be taken lightly. Unlike hair crimes — which are committed upon a passive person seated in something resembling a dentist’s chair, shoulder-canopied and too polite to cry out — you cannot see a hat once it is on your head.

The damage has been done.

In contextual mitigation, Princess Anne did the usual. She plopped a mauve sidesaddle on her head and added a dollop of what appear to be purple oyster mushrooms. The curling at the edges is what happens when no one eats them and they start to dry. I’ve seen it happen, I’ve served them to people.

Add some white netting and bits of an old scarf I thought was still in my sock drawer, and you have yourself a hat! The Princess Royal doesn’t waste money. Plus the thing looks vaguely edible, and there’s a horse in a stable at Gatcombe Park who’s smiling as I write this.

The Queen’s hat is the one she always wears, it’s just yellow this time. Matches the dress, shall we move on.

Camilla is wearing the starched lining of the perfectly acceptable straw hat she bought and paid for, but 12 sizes too big and turned upside down. Actually she sat on it.

Your honour, I cannot say why women chose to be mocked by what well may be billions of television viewers. Samantha Cameron, wife of the British prime minister, did not wear a hat at all, but her husband may have snapped at her, “Calm down, dear” as he did to a female Labour MP this week in the House of Commons.

So she did. She went in alone and without a lid, to paraphrase a friend of the court, a certain Rumpole of the Bailey. “I’ll show him,” she may well have said.

Which means that there’s a value to sulking for Britain. She saved the day. May a hat never be worn again in public life.

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Lip Reader Tries to Decipher Royal Wedding Whispers - OK! Magazine

While most of the world was too busy being enraptured by Kate Middleton’s stunning Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton gown during the live Royal ceremony today to notice the whispers taking place amongst the wedding party, the subtle comments did not go unnoticed.

Professional lip reader Tina Lannin used her expertise to attempt to decipher what was being said, via E! Online, before Prince William and Kate said their “I Dos.”

OK! NEWS:  SARAH BURTON’S “VERY GRATEFUL & HONORED” TO HAVE DESIGNED KATE MIDDLETON’S WEDDING DRESS

According to Tina, Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton whispered to the blushing bride as she walked inside Westminister Abbey, “You look amazing!”

On the groom’s side, Prince Harry took a more comedic approach to lighten the mood. Tina explains that when he spoke to his brother inside the reception, he most likely said, “Right, here she is now,” of Kate walking down the aisle towards the brothers.

OK! NEWS: KATE MIDDLETON’S WEDDING DRESS – WHAT DESIGNERS ARE SAYING

Harry continued with his humor as the expert even deduced what he said to Kate’s proud father. “”We were supposed to have just a small family affair,” he apparently joked to Michael Middleton.

As for Prince William, Tina says that when he met eyes with Kate approaching the alter, the future King lovingly said, “You look lovely!”

OK! NEWS: THE OTHER STARS OF THE ROYAL WEDDING – EYE POPPING HATS GALORE!

Congratulations to Prince William and the now official Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine!

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The Royal Wedding Makes Use of YouTube - WebProNews

On April 29th, the world of social media will explode when the latest Royal Wedding takes place. The soon-to-be nuptials of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, which takes place at Westminster Abbey, is the first Royal Wedding to take advantage of the Internet and the forecast is easy to predict.

There will be a run on Royal Wedding related Twitter hash tags, Facebook will explode with posts from ladies who dream of being in Middleton’s place, and of course, YouTube and Google will be in on the fun as well. In fact, YouTube will be streaming the event live, and some publications think the video king of the Internet could see viewership records broken as people flock together around mobile devices and laptops everywhere, eager to get a glimpse at the attractive couple.

It almost reminds one of a family gathering around the radio; however, in order to capture it correctly for this generation, instead of a black and white photograph, the medium would be a mash-up video of various people watching the event on their computer. With that in mind, it’s hard not to picture the video looking like a Chatroulette session.

Currently, there’s a countdown page on YouTube’s page for the Royal Family — the Royal Channel, naturally enough — reminding us that currently, only six days and 12 hours remain until the most anticipated wedding of the 21st century, considering the massive amounts of hype, anyway, kicks off. Interested YouTube members can upload best wishes and congratulatory videos if they so choose, which is the 21st century version of signing the wedding book:

YouTube’s page for the Royal Wedding also features the Buckingham-Palace-to-Westminster-Abbey procession route the couple will travel, making use of Google Maps in order to do so. There’s already a Google Earth-powered video of the route, which was previously discussed by WebProNews:

As for the records in doubt, as pointed out by The Vancouver Sun, the previous viewer record for a live stream was set when approximately 30 million viewers watched the YouTube Symphony Orchestra concert. If the whole world is indeed watching this wedding, creative license-ly speaking, of course, then that number should fall quite easily.

YouTube’s coverage starts an hour before the Royal Wedding does, giving users ample time to get their drink orders in and fulfilled.

 

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Royal wedding a popularity test - Morton - PerthNow

Source: AP

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday will rival anything in British history for grandeur, according to royal biographer Andrew Morton.

Mr Morton said the wedding would also be an indicator of whether the monarchy still had a relevent place in modern British life.

He is the author William & Catherine: Their Lives, Their Wedding, which will be released on May 12.

"The irony is when Queen Victoria got married she had to borrow the jewellery," Mr Morton said.

"In a way, the last few royal weddings have been as ornate as anything that has been put on in history.

"You've got the coaches. You've got the marching bands. You've got the abbey. You've got global television. You've got the crowds.

"This is a bigger event than when Queen Victoria got married. Quite frankly most royals got married in private."

However, Mr Morton said the size of the event would ultimately depend partly on the weather.

He said the crowd would give a clue as to the future of the royals in modern life.

"This will revitalise the monarchy," he said.

"I will suggest this -- just see how many young people there are in the crowd. This will be a testament to how strong the monarchy is.

"If it's just full of the blue rinse set, forget it. But if there are a lot of young people in there, then it will be a sign that the monarchy is alive in Britain."

Mr Morton said the Duchess of Cornwall, formerly Camilla Parker Bowles, was "non negotiable" as a wedding guest, despite her unpopularity with the public.

"Camilla is non-negotiable," he said. "One of the great triumphs of the palace of the last few years has been introducing Camilla into the spotlight without riots in the streets.

"She's not especially popular, but everyone I know who knows her says she's great. That she's quite an interesting character."

The former Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, however, was "1000 percent" a royal outcast and it wasn't surprising she was snubbed for the wedding.

"I like Fergie, in a way," Mr Morton said. "I did the first story about her when she was dating Prince Andrew.

"I've always had a soft spot for her. I wrote her first ever biography, but she's made a right hash of her life and she keeps making these dreadful mistakes and bouncing back.

"She's got more lives than the average cat."

Mr Morton, who famously wrote the biography Diana: Her True Story with the late princess's secret help, will be tweeting about the royal wedding on the day from @andrewmortonUK.

He has also set up a website for wedding news: themortonreport.com.

*William & Catherine, by Andrew Morton, is published by Hachette, $45, and will be released on May 12.

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Royal wedding on the big screen - Abington Mariner

PLYMOUTH - Plimoth Plantation is playing host for the "Wedding of the Century," as the living history museum joins with Comcast to present the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton, broadcast live on the big screen in the Linn Theater of the Henry Hornblower II Visitor Center, free, beginning at 5 a.m. Friday, April 29.

The first 50 people through the door will receive a special Will and Kate official commemorative key chain direct from England. Wedding guests are encouraged to don their fancy-dress hats and join Plimoth Plantation and Comcast from 5 to 9 a.m. for the nuptials and the procession, while enjoying some English breakfast tea, crumpets and scones with jam to celebrate the royal couple on their big day. At 8 a.m. mimosas will be available to toast the new couple. Prizes will be awarded for the finest fashion in millinery, so guests should be sure to wear a decorative hat, to be a part of the contest fun. Prizes include an overnight at the Plymouth Radisson, $50 gift certificate to Colony Place and more.

Participants who come to view the broadcast of the wedding April 29 will receive a special offer to return to Plimoth Plantation this summer, for a Pilgrim wedding in the 17th century English Village.

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Citizen Byte: Elizabeth Woolnough - A real live royal wedding! - CBC Olympics

Elizabeth Woolnough, of Toronto, will be staying in a flat near Westminster Abbey, above, when she goes to London to watch the royal wedding. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)

Elizabeth Woolnough, 46, of Toronto, is an IT analyst for the Ontario Power Generation. For year, Elizabeth kept her love of the Royal Family under wraps. That all changed when Prince William and Kate Middleton became engaged in November.

On July 29, 1981, I got up at the rather early hour of 5 a.m. - very early for a 17 year-old girl!

I was at that time a fervent admirer of the Royal Family, despite being brought up by two socialists. Snide comments from my father didn't stop me from writing to the Queen and cherishing her replies (or rather the replies from one of her many ladies-in-waiting). I would carefully glue them into my scrapbook, which I started at the age of seven.

I was mesmerized by the pomp and pageantry of the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to HRH Prince of Wales. Her billowing dress, his tense looking jaw, the befuddled flower girls - all were fascinating for me. I secretly wished I could be amongst the crowds cheering on the royal procession. I vowed one day I would attend a royal event in person.

Cue 30 years later: I secretly read all the gossip I can about the Royals without openly admitting it. I try to act blasé, not wanting to appear like some middle-aged woman with nothing else to live for.

One day, I sent my friend Sue an e-mail suggesting that rather than getting up at 6 a.m. to watch the wedding on TV we should just go to London and watch it live. Well turns out I found another secret admirer - within 30 seconds she replied, "Let's do it."
Our first job was to find a place to stay. As it was early February, we both thought it would be hard. Neither of us wanted to share a room and a bathroom - at 17 it is acceptable, on the other side of 40 you want your own space. A work colleague suggested a letting agency. Sue promptly got in touch and within two days we had ourselves a two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat in Westminster - a 10-minute walk from Westminster Abbey. Luckily, air fares were still low and we got a good rate.

We both felt smug as we watched hotel prices in central London creep higher and higher as the wedding approached. According to some internet prices even the low budget hotels were charging 150 pounds a night.

Our first outing when we arrive in London is a champagne tea at the Dorchester Hotel. We also need to bring our fold up chairs to park ourselves near the Abbey all night. However, I plan to keep up to date as I have a feeling security concerns may prevent people from camping out too early - we can always get up very early (4 a.m.) and try our luck. Sue warned me that she is very cranky in the morning. Better put some brandy in that thermos of coffee!

Only a few more days to go before I live out my long held teenage dream of seeing a real live royal wedding!

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Scots Guard removed from Royal Wedding duty for making vile slurs against Kate Middleton - Daily Mail

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:53 PM on 24th April 2011

Bearskin, 18, called her 'posh b****' and 'stuck-up cow' on Facebook after perceived snub
Said he fantasised about shooting Jews while on dutyDescribed London as a 'Paki holding cell'
Cameron Reilly has been banned from the wedding parade after he made vicious online rants about Kate Middleton

A Palace guard has been banned from the Royal Wedding parade for making vicious online rants about Kate Middleton after she apparently 'snubbed' him.

Scots Guardsman Cameron Reilly, 18, also said he had 'attacked a black man' while on leave in his home town of East Kilbride near Glasgow and fantasised about shooting Jews while on duty.

He called Miss Middleton, who is due to marry Prince William at Westminster Abbey on Friday, a 'stuck-up cow', adding: 'Who really gives a f*** about her?'

On his Facebook page, Reilly wrote how he felt insulted by Kate when she and Prince William drove past him last month.

He wrote: 'Her and William drove past me on Friday and all I got was a s****y wave while she looked the opposite way from me, stupid, stuck-up cow. Am I not good enough for them! Posh b****. Who really gives a f*** about her?'

Reilly, who joined the Army last year, was to be among several hundred Scots Guards involved in the wedding celebrations on Friday.

They will line the route of the Wedding procession for the newlyweds from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.

He is regularly one of the soldiers who patrols outside the palace in iconic red tunic and bearskin hat, much beloved of tourists.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence refused to reveal whether the Palace guards carry live ammunition in their weapons as it is 'a matter of operational security.'

Reilly, who joined the Scots Guards last year, was due to be one of many soldiers involved in the Royal Wedding next week

Reilly also posted anti-Semitic views on his Facebook profile and described London as a 'Paki holding cell'

'A boozer not a thinker': Cameron Reilly posted obscene messages about Kate Middleton on Facebook

Commenting on his Facebook page on one such patrol, he wrote: 'Watching a massive Jew gathering at the Tower of London! Have never seen so many rabbis in my life.

A pal replied: 'Get the rifle out...'

To which he responded: 'Have got one of the Jews in my sights now lmao' - which stands for 'laugh my a*** off'.

Verbal attack: A Scots Guardsman posted vitriolic messages on Facebook calling Kate Middleton 'stuck up'

He also described London as 'a Paki holding cell'.

There are a number of photos on his public profile including one of Reilly in combat fatigues and a beret holding rifles.

He is also pictured in a baseball cap clutching a bottle of Buckfast fortified wine and kissing a vodka bottle.  

He lists his activities and interests as foot drill, Household division and infantry - all related to his training as a Guardsman.

Other interests include 'causing trouble' and super-strength lager.

According to The People, a soldier, who asked not be named, said: 'He's a big boozer and not what you'd call a thinker. He downs Buckfast fortified wine and likes raucous nights out.

'He joined Facebook last year and started posting bizarre things. He doesn't engage his brain before he types.

'These stupid comments could not have come at a worse time for him. Serving at the Royal Wedding is a huge honour. He has been incredibly naive.'

A spokesman for the Scots Guards said they were investigating the claims

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