How Kate and Wills will bring the world to a standstill

How Kate and Wills will bring the world to a standstill - The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be the biggest since the marriage of his parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, in July 1981.

The prospect of such a State occasion, with all its pomp and ceremony, is already causing massive global interest in exactly the same way the marriage of his mother and father did 30 years ago.

Their wedding, in opulent St Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981, was a pure fairytale affair, watched by a worldwide TV audience of more than 750 million.

Let's do it: Prince Charles and Diana bow to public demand and kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their wedding

Long haul: Diana's wedding dress, with its train of immense proportions, drew gasps of admiration when she arrived at St Paul's Cathedral

Tens of thousands camped out overnight on the streets of London to get the best vantage point on the route from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral.

And on the day up to a million wellwishers travelled to the capital to catch a glimpse of the future King and his new young bride.

Details of Diana's wedding dress were kept a closely-guarded secret and, when she arrived at St Paul's, the young bride drew gasps of admiration.

Designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel had created an elaborately flowing silk taffeta gown and train of memorable proportions.

During the ceremony, both the bride and groom displayed wedding nerves as they fluffed their vows in front of the 2,000 guests. Diana inverted the Prince's names, calling him 'Philip Charles Arthur George'. And Charles promised 'with all thy goods I share with thee' instead of 'all my worldly goods I share with thee'.

Three of Prince Charles's favourite orchestras - the Royal Opera Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra - played at the wedding and New Zealand-born soprano Kiri Te Kanawa sang an aria.

The couple walked down the aisle as man and wife to the strains of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance.

Soon after came the moment which captured the defining image of the day - when the Prince and Princess appeared on the Palace balcony and kissed.

The crowds had called for the couple and were especially eager to see a kiss. Charles said to Diana: 'I am not going to do that caper. They are trying to get us to kiss.' Diana said: 'Well how about it?' And, after a moment's deliberation, Charles replied: 'Why ever not?'

Casting royal protocol aside, and to the delight of the crowd, the newlyweds kissed.

Following in his grandmothers' footsteps...

Prince William will be following in the footsteps of his grandmother if, as predicted, his wedding is held at Westminster Abbey. The Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, and The Duke of Edinburgh were wed there on November 20, 1947.

Sources say that Abbey personnel have already been contacted by royal aides to make arrangements for a wedding on the second weekend in August 2011.

The wedding procession passes through Admiralty Arch after the wedding of The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, to Prince Philip in November 1947

Westminster Abbey became a popular venue for Royal weddings when Princess Patricia of Connaught chose it for her marriage to the Honourable Alexander Ramsay in 1919. It was the first time for 650 years that the Abbey had been used for a Royal wedding.

Westminster Abbey was also chosen for the marriage of King George V's daughter, Mary, Princess Royal, to Viscount Lascelles, later Earl of Harewood, in February 1922.

It was later the setting for the weddings of two of the King's sons: Prince Albert, Duke of York - later King George VI - to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in April 1923, and Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Princess Marina of Greece in November 1934.

Westminster Abbey was also the scene of the weddings of Princess Margaret and Mr Antony Armstrong-Jones on May 6, 1960; Princess Alexandra and the Hon Angus Ogilvy on April 24, 1963; Princess Anne, now The Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips on November 14, 1973; and Prince Andrew, now The Duke of York, and Miss Sarah Ferguson on July 23, 1986.

During the 19th century, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, was a popular venue for Royal weddings. Probably the grandest wedding to take place in the chapel was in 1863, when The Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra) were married there.

Many of Queen Victoria's other children also married in St. George's Chapel, including Princess Helena, Princess Louise, Prince Arthur and Prince Leopold.

More recently, Prince Edward (now The Earl of Wessex) married Miss Sophie Rhys-Jones in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, June 19, 1999, in a traditional service attended by 560 guests.

The marriage of The Prince of Wales to Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles was dedicated in St George's Chapel following a civil ceremony in Windsor's Guildhall on April 9, 2005.

Most Royal marriages are solemnised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with carriage processions taking the Royal couple and members of the Royal Family to and from the marriage venue.

Royal marriages that failed the test of time

Members of the Royal Family have often been unlucky in love, enduring turbulent times over the years as far as affairs of the heart are concerned.

Three of the Queen's four children went through very public divorces.

In 1992 - the monarch's 'annus horribilis' - the Prince of Wales separated from Diana, Princess of Wales, the Duke of York split from Sarah, Duchess of York, and the Princess Royal divorced Captain Mark Phillips.

Charles's relationship with Diana ended badly. In December 1992, Prime Minister John Major announced Charles and Diana were separating 'amicably'.

But the same year the growing intimacy between Charles and the then Camilla Parker Bowles became apparent when the so-called 'Camillagate' tape of a conversation between the pair surfaced.

In June 1994, Charles admitted to Jonathan Dimbleby in a television interview that he was unfaithful to Diana after their marriage broke down.

In November 1995, Diana gave a Panorama television interview in which she said of her relationship with Charles 'there were three of us in this marriage'.

The only child of the Queen not to divorce is the Earl of Wessex who married Sophie Rhys Jones, now the Countess of Wessex, in 1999.

Prince Charles leaving St Paul's in 1981 with his new bride, Diana, Princess of Wales, and with Camilla Parker Bowles after their wedding at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in April 2005Prince Charles wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles

Charles remarried, making Camilla his wife in 2005, while the Princess Royal is married to former royal equerry Timothy Laurence, now a Vice-Admiral in the Navy.

Prince Charles leaving St Paul's in 1981 with his new bride, Diana, Princess of Wales, and with Camilla Parker Bowles after their wedding at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in April 2005

The Queen's sister Princess Margaret put duty before desire when she called off plans to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend in 1955.

She later wed photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who became the Earl of Snowdon, but they divorced in 1978, making Margaret the first member of the Royal family to divorce since Henry VIII. One relationship has, however, remained solid throughout. ( dailymail.co.uk )