London is preparing to celebrate the "wedding of the decade" with activities around Buckingham Palace at fever pitch, with the erection of marquees, media broadcast studios setup on Green Park. Prince William and Kate Middleton are to get married on 29 April in Westminster Abbey the following is the official timings issued by Clarence House:
- 8:00 – 10:00 am: Arrival of the main congregation - 10.00 – 11:00 am: Arrival of foreign dignitaries and royal families. The British Royal Family will arrive last, just ahead of the bride (according protocol). - 11:00 am: The bride arrives, and the service starts - 12:15 pm: The service ends and the carriage processions begin - 1:25 pm: Appearance of the married couple at the Buckingham Palace Balcony - 1:30 pm: Fly Past
Over 1 million people are expected to watch the wedding procession in central London on 29 April, with many more millions preparing Royal Wedding street parties.
West End retailers in the build up to the Royal Wedding from 10 leading retail businesses will be gathering support for the first ever West End Wear A Hat To Work Day. Dreamt up by retail staff, the initiative was created to ensure the 20,000 retail workers on duty and working in stores on the big day, will also get a chance to join in with the wedding celebrations.
Tesco Calling Card is giving away tens of thousands of free phone calls to anywhere in the world during Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, allowing friends and family to share up-to-the-minute 'bridal gossip' wherever they are.
Transport for London will be issuing special Oyster tickets on the day of the wedding to celebrate the wedding emblazoned with images of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Peter Hendy the transport commissioner said:
'All Tube lines will be running and our bus and streets teams will be working flat out to make sure that the closures and diversions needed are managed smoothly.
'The whole of TfL is focussed on helping to ensure a great day is had by all.'
The following travel information is being given to those coming to the area or intending to travel through central London on the day:
Planned road closures include:
* Birdcage Walk * Broad Sanctuary * Buckingham Gate * Buckingham Palace Road (north of Lower Grosvenor Place) * Charing Cross Road (south of Shaftesbury Avenue) * Cockspur Square * Constitution Hill * Horse Guards Road * The Mall * Millbank * Pall Mall (east of Haymarket) * Parliament Square * The Strand * Victoria Embankment * Victoria Street * Westminster Bridge * Whitehall
In addition, the Metropolitan Police have advised that a number of other roads may also be closed for parts of the day.
These include, but are not limited to:
* Grovsenor Place * Haymarket * Hyde Park Corner * Knightsbridge (east of Sloane Street) * Park Lane * Piccadilly
Road closures will be implemented from 06:00 on Friday 29 April 2011.
They will be lifted as soon as possible following the event, but road users are strongly advised to avoid this part of central London throughout the day.
There will also be some wedding-related closures on Wednesday 27 April between 02:30 and 07:00.
The former editor of The Sun Kelvin Mackenzie today in his weekly column pleads with Kate Middleton "its not too late, don't do it, Kate", and states that the Royal Family are an "out of date jail". Mackenzie also goes on to say "by marrying into this strange upper-class set-up show now knows she will never be as successful as her mother".
