Elspeth A. Lodge

Mario Testino

Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton pose in one of two official engagement portraits.

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Elspeth Lodge January 26, 2011 – 3:29 pm

While swanky, hand-written, gold-embossed invitations make their way to royal wedding guests, the Queen is relying on 1992′s favorite technology, the fax, to make sure Europe’s crowned heads don’t make other plans for April 29th. She instructed her personal secretary to fax save-the-date letters to the most important European heads of state.

“It’s a sort of pre-invitation, asking them to keep the date free. It’s been done because of their diary commitments, but they haven’t received a gold embossed invitation yet,” a senior Buckingham Palace official told the Daily Express.

Protocol dictates that European heads of state are given earlier notice than foreign heads of state and non-VIP guests, writes the Telegraph.

A Buckingham Palace courtier explained to the Mail: “Faxes have been used before for large-scale events. They are an efficient and polite way to inform people as quickly as possible.”

The “real” hand-written, gold-embossed invitations will delivered to all 1,800 guests by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office in around three weeks’ time, revealed the Express.

In the past few days, spokesmen have been responding on behalf of the families who received the faxes and several guests have already been confirmed, including the royal households of Spain, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium.

The Express reports the first household to respond was that of the Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia (the godson of the Queen). His representative said:  “Their Royal Highnesses are delighted to attend the marriage and are very happy for the young couple.”

Posted in: Posted, World Tags: Alexander Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, Daily Mail, Kate Middleton, Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Prince William, Royal family, royal wedding, The Queen

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/26/royal-wedding-save-the-date-faxes-sent-out/#ixzz1CFsfbbbA

January 27, 2011 | Categories: Breaking News | Leave A Comment » | Edit

It was a busy long weekend for royal wedding watchers: invites were sent out, and we found out who was royally loved — and who got snubbed; an anticipated Will and Kate Lifetime film started production; a “Kiss me Kate” beer was announced; tour buses descended on Kate Middleton’s hometown and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood took a royal jab at Ms. Middleton’s style sense. Below, the latest headlines

1) The invitations

They’re now officially in the mail. The Prince of Wales’ website breaks down who made the cut by the (approximate) numbers: 1,000: friends and family of William and Kate; 90: members of the British and foreign royal families; 200: members of government; 80: guests drawn from Prince William’s charities; 60: governors-general, prime ministers; 30: members of the defence services

 

Reuters / John Stillwell

A member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office at Buckingham Palace inserts invitations for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton into envelopes in London on February 16, 2011

REUTERS/John Stillwell 

Beyond the wedding itself, around 600 people have been invited to the lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace given by The Queen; around 300 made the cut for a dinner at Buckingham Palace given by The Prince of Wales.

2) The Guests

 

Reuters

Pop singer Elton John

Who’s in: Rumoured to have received invitations: David and Victoria Beckam; Elton John; Chelsy Davy; Rupert Finch (Ms. Middleton’s ex) and Jecca Craig (Prince William’s alleged ex). And, potentially, Kanye West (the Prince is a big fan).

Who isn’t: Barack and Michelle Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy and wife, Carla Bruni and Sarah Ferguson, Dutchess of York. Reports say the Obamas were left out due to lack of close ties with the royal family, and, secondly,  there would be many extra security costs involved if the U.S. president and his wife were to attend. But the Queen has invited the Obamas on an official state visit soon after the wedding, in May, reports say.

3) Tour buses are descending on Kate Middleton’s home town of Bucklebury

Tourists have been flocking to Bucklebury, Kate’s home town, since the news that she and the prince will be married on April 29. But recently, bus tours are taking full advantage of the royal wedding fever.

The BBC recently followed one of the tours, stopping at the local church, where Ms. Middleton was baptized, her former primary school, and the local pub, Bladebone Pub & Retaurant. There was even a pass-by of the Middleton family home, which, lucky for them (not so lucky for the tourists) is hidden from view by trees.

NBC News reporter Keith Miller, who had a seat on the first [coach] tour which set off on Sunday, told the BBC that there was an “insatiable appetite” for the royal wedding across the Atlantic.

“We will literally cover, as a nation, every single event regardless of how insignificant it may appear,” Mr. Miller said.”If it gives us some insight into Kate Middleton or Prince William we will do it because our audience wants to know about it.”

3) Kiss Me Kate…in beer form

Kiss Me Kate is an only-available-in-the-U.K. beer tribute to Kate Middleton made by Nottingham’s Castle Rock Brewery.

Head brewer Adrian Redgrove says in a statement the drink will be “elegant, tasteful and British to the core.” He reveals on the company’s website that the drink will be full of British hops and barley. It will be brewed to 5%, pale in colour and, “we’re sure it’ll be the ideal way to toast the couple’s future happiness,” he says.”We’ll certainly be enjoying it in our celebrations here at the brewery.”

Desperate for a wedding-themed brew, no matter how tangentially related? Moose’s Tooth Pub in Anchorage, Alaska offers a “Prince William Porter.” However, despite what many sources are reporting, it’s not actually named after the prince, but after the nearby body of water Prince William Sound.

5) Designer Vivienne Westwood takes on Kate Middleton’s fashion sense

 

Reuters / Suzanne Plunkett

It seems fashion designer Vivienne Westwood’s pride has been singed. The British designer — who’s clearly not been chosen to design the royal wedding dress — had some harsh words to say about Kate Middleton’s style as she prepared to show her new collection at London’s fashion week, reports the Daily Mail.

“I would have loved to have dressed Kate Middleton but I have to wait until she kind of catches up a bit somewhere with style,” she said.”When people ask me where she’s going to get the dress from – she’s definitely not going to get it from me, or I would have heard.”

6) UCLA to play Edinburgh in Will and Kate movie?

Will and Kate, the  Lifetime made for television movie, began filming on Monday in the U.S. While the scene is set in Edinburgh, the movie is actually being shot at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), reports the Daily Mail.

Relatively unknown British actress Camilla Ludington is playing Kate Middleton; Kiwi actor Nico Evers Swindell plays Prince William. But a recent dye job (from brunette to Prince William’s dark blonde) has left him looking more Prince Harry than William.