UNITED KINGDOM: With less than 24 hours to go before the royal wedding, courtiers carry out last-minute preparations and excited wellwishers gather on the streets

Record ID: 345983

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: With less than 24 hours to go before the royal wedding, courtiers carry out last-minute preparations and excited wellwishers gather on the streets
  • Date: 29th April 2011
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 28, 2011) (REUTERS) CLOSE OF LONDON MAGAZINE WITH PICTURE OF PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE MIDDLETON
  • Embargoed: 14th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom, United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Royalty,Royalty,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAX0RXD1Q164VTDEZZE7BROBH4
  • Story Text: Royal wedding fever was beginning to grip London on Thursday (April 28), on the eve of the widely anticipated marriage of Britain's Prince William to Kate Middleton.
    At the entrance to the Goring Hotel, close to Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace residence, workmen were erecting awnings to screen the movements of Middleton and her entourage. The bride-to-be will stay at the upmarket Belgravia hotel on Thursday night, before making the short journey on Friday morning (April 29) to the wedding venue, Westminster Abbey, with her father, Michael.
    Thousands of royal fans were camping out in central London, eager to grab a good position to view Friday's pageantry.
    "We want to see the kiss on the balcony and that will happen tomorrow after the last coaches go through and then we can pass through and we can see the kiss," said Sylvie, a middle-aged woman from Essex, southeast England, who was camped out with her two sisters, Sheila and Stephanie.
    For Damien Carpenter from Leeds, northern England, the wedding is all about national pride.
    "It's showing the world what we do best. We are the only country that can do this properly and it's fantastic. And here we are in the middle of a recession, etc,etc,etc, everybody comes out, has a good time, it's brilliant. It's what we are," he said.
    Tourism chiefs are predicting an extra 600,000 visitors in the capital on Friday, taking the total to about 1.1 million and bringing in up to 50 million pounds (80 million U.S. dollars).
    Security will be tight on the day, with Britain on its second highest threat level, meaning an attack by militants is considered "highly likely", and police have been carrying out thorough searches along the route.
    Militant Islamists and Irish republicans, anarchists, and stalkers are all seen by security experts as possible risks.
    Londoners who cannot find a spot near Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace will gather in Trafalgar Square to watch proceedings on a giant screen.
    Outside Britain, the world's fascination with the British royal family is undiminished. An estimated 8,000 journalists are in London to cover the ceremony, and hundreds of millions across the world will watch on television.
    At temporary studios erected opposite Buckingham Palace, media personnel were busy setting up and rehearsing as a marching band passed by, offering a hint of the pomp and ceremony in prospect on Friday.
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