Looks like good breeding stock

[Gob]

Prince William has spoken of his and fiancee Kate Middleton's happiness, as the newly-engaged couple faced the cameras for the first time.



The couple, both 28, will marry next spring or summer after he proposed while on holiday in Kenya in October.

The prince said: "The timing is right now." His brother Harry said he would be gaining a sister.

William gave Kate his mother's engagement ring, saying: "It was right to put the two together."

Speaking as they stood arm-in-arm before photographers, and later as they gave a TV interview, Prince William said giving Kate his mother Diana's distinctive sapphire and diamond engagement ring was "my way of making sure my mother didn't miss out on today and the excitement".

He stressed that no-one was "trying to fill my mother's shoes". Miss Middleton paid tribute to the princess as an "inspirational woman".

She admitted joining the Royal Family was a "daunting prospect" but she added: "Hopefully I'll take it in my stride."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11770033

[@meric@nwom@n]

Pleasingly morganatic!

[Sean]

Picture the scene...

William: Look Pater, Kate and one are engaged and I've given her Mumsy's engagement ring!
Charles: Well done old chap... but wasn't your Mumsy buried wearing that ring?
William: *whistles innocently*



Well that's what went through my mind first...

[Gob]

I'm even more sick...

"Oooh, came out a treat from the car crusher then?"

[loCAtek]

Seriously, I hear they'll not be marrying in the same chapel, but she's picked out a dress...

[Gob]

Is it just me or does she look like a non-ginge version of his aunty Fergie?



(I can't find a younger image of her.)

[Gob]

I think a lot of people will start bashing the Bishop over this

A prominent bishop has provoked a storm of outrage by likening Prince William and Kate Middleton to ‘shallow celebrities’ and predicting their marriage will last just seven years.

On his Facebook page, Church of England Bishop Pete Broadbent describes the Royal Family as ‘philanderers’ with a record of marriage break-ups who ‘cost an arm and a leg’. He also denounces the ‘nauseating tosh’ surrounding the ‘national flimflam’ of the ­wedding and says the basis of the Monarchy is ‘corrupt and sexist’. In a reference to the 1981 marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, he adds: ‘I managed to avoid the last disaster in slow motion between Big Ears and the Porcelain Doll, and I hope to avoid this one too.’

His comments are sure to dismay his immediate superior, the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who is a close friend of Prince Charles.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z15rpZvCLe

[BoSoxGal]

Monarchy is so 1400.

Seriously, why not ditch this very costly and outdated institution? Surely the tourism draw isn't enough to justify it?

That being said, on a purely personal level having watched him grow up from a baby, William's a lovely looking lad and he's chosen a lovely looking young lady. Giving her his mother's ring was a very touching gesture.

No idea if they are actually idiots or not - don't follow closely enough.

[@meric@nwom@n]

Is it just me or does she look like a non-ginge version of his aunty Fergie?



(I can't find a younger image of her.)

It's just you.

I was amused by the interview where William spoke of carrying him mother's ring around in a rucksack, hanging onto it for dear life because he knew if he lost it, "I was going to be in big big trouble."

[oldr_n_wsr]

My wife asked me if I had read about this, I said I did but who really cares about it? Maybe those in the UK and few million here in hte states who have no other more pressing matters. Me, I don't care, won't watch and will be pissed off when their wedding interferes with more important things on the TV like American football.

[Gob]

Thank god that Ashes series will be over before they wed...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Thank god that Ashes series will be over before they wed...

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down...

[The Hen]

The wedding will help the British economy, which would be a good thing.

[Scooter]

My wife asked me if I had read about this, I said I did but who really cares about it? Maybe those in the UK and few million here in hte states who have no other more pressing matters. Me, I don't care, won't watch and will be pissed off when their wedding interferes with more important things on the TV like American football.

I imagine those in the Queen's other fifteen realms around the world will also care, but that aside...

I am always amazed at how captivated so MANY Americans always seem to be with all things royal, given that it has absolutely nothing to do with them.

The wedding will help the British economy, which would be a good thing.

Aside from the economic benefit, I think the British people could use the party atmosphere to boost morale, much like the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947 helped to boost the morale of a people still dealing with rationing and the rest of the aftermath of wartime. I had heard that the couple were going to wait until 2012, to have the wedding coincide with both the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (basically make the entire year a string of festivities) but better to get people celebrating sooner.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I'm always up for a good party, but I won't be going to the UK for this one. And I doubt I will be invited anyway, but just in case, what does one give a prince and princess on their wedding day?

[Gob]

Something for the honeymoon?

[Andrew D]

I am always amazed at how captivated so MANY Americans always seem to be with all things royal, given that it has absolutely nothing to do with them.

It might have something to do with the fact that the US exists by virtue of having kicked British royalty's ass. Twice.

[dgs49]

For some reason I have been reading a lot of English (the country) fiction lately, and I have to say the Brits fixation on "class" and royalty completely eludes me.

These two look like a perfectly lovely couple and one hopes that they can have a successful marriage, but why should anyone outside their immediate circle of family and friends care?

Yet for reasons that I can't really articulate, I find it even more bothersome when Americans of no talent or virtue (or even good looks) are similarly idolized, and their affairs become the fodder for tabloids and the glossy magazines at the grocery store checkout lines.

Just last week, a "cousin" of mine - an attractive 15-year-old girl - ran away from home, telling her parents (by note) that she was going to New York to become a model. The police got involved - the whole big deal. She was located a few days later, unharmed but with the bug still up her ass. Is it any wonder that she dreams of a life of extravigant luxury with no real effort, simply because she is tall and thin and has a pleasant countenance?

We Americans glorify fame and fortune without effort - the ability to thumb one's nose at everything and every one, just because we CAN. People who work hard to succeed are nothing more than an afterthought.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Is it any wonder that she dreams of a life of extravigant luxury with no real effort, simply because she is tall and thin and has a pleasant countenance?

Paris Hilton comes to mind. When "trash" like her do absolutely nothing and the media plays them up, what do you expect.


PS
Glad your "cousin" got home unharmed, many don't.

[Scooter]

I am always amazed at how captivated so MANY Americans always seem to be with all things royal, given that it has absolutely nothing to do with them.

It might have something to do with the fact that the US exists by virtue of having kicked British royalty's ass. Twice.

Americans kicked British royalty's ass and so Americans flock in droves to the UK to fill their homes with royal wedding memorabiliia. Sure, that makes sense.