Prince William has confirmed he will marry Kate Middleton next year

[phipps]

I wonder if we will get a Bank Holiday for it.

What's the other Royal wedding?

I quite liked her dress, and the ring.

I've never looked that dressed up, even on my wedding day

MardyBra - they are already training bluebirds and squirrels to lift her veil and Sir Elton is giving them singing lessons. Embrace it. There is no escape.

Have become obsessed with watching the news of the engagement.
I couldn't say why !
Was fond of Diana though, and feel Kate could do a good job of following in her footsteps with charity and international work.

Not sure Will's done the right thing regarding the ring. Maybe she might have liked one of her own. Even though it is traditional, and I wear my grandmother's ring. I feel this one may have a lot of baggage - it's certainly heavy enough !

If he was carrying it around for 3 weeks and produced it as he proposed she could hardly say anything could she ?
I agree though that with the same ring, posture, and similar blue dress, they did look a bit too much like C&D !

Thought they did well showing some affection in front of the cameras, but I'd like to see them looking at each other more, laughing more, and generally being less nervous and more relaxed. There's nothing to worry about guys ! Be yourselves !

Can't wait for the big day !
Betting it will be 6th Aug at St.Paul's !

at kitty. You've been watching too much Enchanted haven't you.

jugglingjo - what made me go was the fact that William carried the ring around in his rucksack for 3 weeks. a) what if he'd lost it and b) what's he doing with a rucksack. He was hardly backpacking!

She's def a fab looking young woman though no two ways about it.

It is very odd the comparisons that keep being made to Diana and Charles. Then using the same ring - it's throwing me a bit. I remember the Diana engagement very clearly. It's making me feel sooooo OLD Good luck to them though. William seems much more part of the real world than Charles will ever be so that's a hopeful start.

I wish we could bypass Charles and Camilla and go straight to William when the time comes.

Hi MardyBra

• That's how he described it in the interview !

The loose women were sceptical at lunch time too !

I guess he's just trying to sound more normal to the rest of us !

Really it was dragged around the Kenyan grasslands ( due to it's massive weight and many carets ) by large security officers under armed guard, until an opportune moment should arise !

Juggling Jo - my DH did the same. His mum was dying and he told her before we went on holiday that he was going to propose and she said she wondered if I'd accept a family ring which I found an enormously touching gesture of family affection and approval. He carried two rings of his late grandmother around and presented me with one (very like a small one of Diana's). As it happened I preferred the other one and that is what I wear. My wedding ring is my mum's - she died in the same year as MIL. Wearing those rings means more to me than any new one ever could have done. He was terrified he'd lose the rings but also afraid he would miss 'the moment' if he didn't have them with him. I thought that his regard for his family was a good omen fo the one we hoped to have. Now he is a father of 3, I know I was right.

Hi KittyFoyle,

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I like wearing my grandmother's ring, especially as it's an emerald and I have her green eyes. (Even though it did let my partner off the hook of finding me a ring by himself !)

I just hope it's a similarly positive experience for Kate.I'm sure the sentiment from Will is a good one. And she does have blue eyes I think ?

It's nice and all that but its gonna be weddings, weddings for months now. Guess it beats reading about the economy!

TankFlyBossWalk
"Anti anything nice". Yeah, everyone hates anything 'nice'. Don't be so stupid and ridiculous, Runaway.

They're a pair of weirdos (anyone who kills wildlife for fun is more than weird) and I wish to god that they're ugly mugs would disappear from the news."

Nasty, vitriloic comments like this are quite uncalled for. What did any of the royal family ever do to you personally for you to be so bitter? I know loads of people who are anti the royal family, but they don't spout venomous ridiculous nonsense the way you do. Are you always so full of hate?

What happened to live and let live?

Back to the ring -

Maybe he could have given her the record breaking pink diamond ?

It would only set him ( and us !)back £46 million ! (wink)

I'm really dissappointed how so many seemingly educated women (that's us MNers) can be so disgustingly narrow minded and at times just outright disgusting: "was non plussed when princess big nose died.another vapid royal bit the dust few more to go"
I actually feel sick that anyone can even joke about the life of another human like that.
Besides the Royal Family cost us just over 60p each a YEAR so I don't think that making a huge fuss about how much we fund them is really relevant.

save your ire for something that really matters.rather faux than moral indignation that we all dont fawn over royals

fauning is not necessary - I certainly won't faun - but a basic respect for a person's life is always nice

royalty institution and individuals royals are an abomination.costly,outmoded,amoral and i dont consider myself a subject - i am a citizen

Asteria, the 60p a year figure is from Buck House and is hugely disputed (it does not include a lot of the costs to us from the Royals like security) and even if that was the case - 60p a year for ONE FAMILY! [SHOCK]

It's not exactly a small sum .

I stand corrected on the 60p thing then - but I'm sure that we pay a helluva lot more each year in our taxes for far more pointless/controversial things in this country!

Two wrongs don't make a right though Asteria .

it is unnecessary to pay for royals and associated hangers on-princess eugenie,beatrice and princess michael

dysfunctional,undemocratic freeloaders

Am watching this from afar from an ex-colony and all I have to say is rejoice you sad sad islanders!
2 people in love, delusional enough to want to marry when all the odds are against them:

• school sweethearts: check: acrimonious divorce by 40
• dysfunctional family: check
• class gap: check
• media pressure: check
• the doomed ring on her finger.....that alone should make them shudder

Not to mention you buggers

I think the royalty fans are confusing two issues. I haven't said a bad or personal word about Miss Middleton or her fiancé but even if I admired them personally I would still be against the taxpayer funding even part of the cost of their wedding, the wedding of the son of one of the richest people in the country. I might not object at all to a democratised monarchy. But I do object to funding a celebstyle wedding. And before anyone says it, let's remember that the Jubilee china didn't sell; why will this be different? As for the notion that the Royals work hard, come on. Do they work six to seven days a week? How many days holiday do they take? Because anyone earning a six-figure salary will be working that hard.

TBH I don't think most of the critical bunch here on MN realise what lazy and feckless royals would look like. You'd have to go back to pre-Queen Victoria to really plumb the depths, and you'd probably see some eye watering bad behaviour. This lot are pretty clued up (although too many people behind the scenes still tell them what they want to hear far too often, IMO, and that letter Charles wrote with regard to redevelopment of the barracks made me absolutely cringe in its obvious assumption of and desire for unelected influence).

This lot are clued up insofar as they know what they can get away atm - but that will all change radically over the next 50 years. Queen Vicky and her predecessors got away with what they did given the context that society operated in at that time - advances in thinking and attitudes forces them to change, and it will be the same with this lot.

What will be harder to change (and indeed I'm not sure if it ever will) is the obsession with rank amongst some levels of society. I remember being introduced (in hushed, almost reverential tones) to a Prussian princess once - I almost choked on my drink laughing, yet there were people there who were in absolute awe, and it will be the same with the rest of the royals, regardless of whether or not they are publicly funded.