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Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton will marry in London’s Westminster Abbey on Friday in the country’s biggest royal wedding for three decades.
Here are the key timings for the day:
— 8:15 am (0715 GMT): The 1,900 guests start arriving at the Abbey. Many will in fact be watching on television screens in the abbey due to the layout.
Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers are expected to line the route of the post-wedding procession, although forecasters say it could rain.
— 10:15 am: Prince William and his younger brother and best man Prince Harry arrive at the Abbey. William faces a nervous wait in a side chapel of at least 45 minutes for his bride. As a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot he is expected to wear military uniform.
— 10:20 am: Kate’s mother Carole and brother James will leave the Goring Hotel, where the bride and her family will have stayed overnight, arriving at the abbey at 10:27 am.
— 10:35 am: British royals begin arriving in strict order of protocol, with Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and his second wife Camilla getting to the abbey at 10:42 am and Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip three minutes later.
— 10:51 am: Kate and her father Michael leave the Goring Hotel. She will travel in a Rolls Royce limousine which was damaged and then repaired after student protesters attacked Prince Charles and Camilla in December.
Key details remain secret, including her dress, whether she will wear her hair up or down and whether she will wear a tiara.
But her route to the abbey passes landmarks including The Mall, Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall and Parliament Square.
— 11:00 am: Marriage service begins — though Kate could be a few minutes late, following a British tradition for brides.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the head of the Church of England, will marry the couple.
— 12:15 pm: The newlyweds travel in a procession to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by soldiers and police on horseback.
If the weather is good they will use an open-topped gold 1902 State Landau horse-drawn carriage, but if it is raining they will use The Glass Coach, which carried William’s late mother Diana to her 1981 wedding with Prince Charles.
1:25 pm: The queen and the newlyweds, together with their families, appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. William and Kate are expected to kiss.
1:30 pm: Flypast by Royal Air Force (RAF) jets and World War II planes from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Afternoon: The queen hosts an official wedding lunch for 650 guests at the palace.
Evening: Prince Charles hosts dinner-dance at the palace for 300 friends and family. Prince Harry is reportedly lining up an early morning "survivors’ breakfast".
AFP / Expatica