Royal Wedding …

Date of Issue : 15 April 2011

The Isle of Man Post will issue a special Miniature sheet on 15 April to celebrate forthcoming wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011. A miniature sheet of two stamps, features Prince William and his bride .

It will be an exciting day for Britain, which is currently in the middle of a recession. Billions of people around the world are expected to watch the ceremony on television and thousands will line the streets of London. Prince William follows in the footsteps of his grandparents by getting married to Catherine at Westminster Abbey. It was there that the Queen married the Duke of Edinburgh and it was the venue for Princess Diana’s funeral.

Royal Wedding Ceremony

Kate will travel to the Abbey by a limousine from the Queen’s fleet of cars. Prince William will follow with the rest of the royal family. It is one of the few times that a future princess has not arrived in a fairytale horse-driven coach. The last royal to travel by car was Sophie Rhys-Jones when she married Prince Edward at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 1999. The service will take place at the church at 11am on April 29 and will be conducted by The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall. But, in line with tradition, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will perform the marriage ceremony and The Bishop of London Richard Chartres, who counselled the prince in the wake of his mother’s death and presided over his confirmation, will give a ‘very personal’ sermon.

Reception

Up to 2,200 guests, including heads of state, members of European royal families and celebrities, are expected to attend. One hundred golden tickets have been reserved for the public, being drawn at random. After the ceremony, the couple will emerge to a spectacle of marching soldiers, military bands and mounted regiments. They will return to Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn State Landau coach along the traditional route for the State Opening of Parliament taking in London landmarks such as The Mall, the Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall and Parliament Square. However, in a break with tradition, the Queen will host a buffet reception at Buckingham Palace rather than a ten-course wedding breakfast. It will be a marked difference to her own wedding reception in 1947 when she had a banquet of sole followed by braised partridge and Bombe Glacée.

Great Party by Prince of Wales

After official photographs the newlyweds are expected to appear on the balcony for an embrace. Their appearance will coincide with a flypast from William’s RAF colleagues. After retiring for a rest, the couple will attend a private dinner and dancing at Buckingham Palace, hosted by the Prince of Wales. He is inviting 350 guests to the party, including William and Catherine’s school friends from Eton and Marlborough, contemporaries from St Andrew’s University, and military colleagues. Kate will be the first commoner to marry an expected future king for 350 years, since Anne Hyde married the future King James II, in 1660.

Club News

From our Readers….

Mr Boben J E of Trivandrum has prepared a Maxim Card on Krishnadevaraya. The stamp on Krishnadevaraya was issued on 27 January 2011. Blog : http://www.philalover.blogspot.com/

ZEPPELIN POST JOURNAL - 100th issue
The Spring2011 issue of the ZEPPELIN POST JOURNAL is the 100th issue of this publication. And the topic of this jubilee issue is "100" with interesting and fascinating articles about Count Zeppelin's 100th birthday, LZ-100, flight number 100, 100 dropped pieces, registration number 100, R100 and 100 years Bordstempel . For a sneak preview see here: http://www.ezep.de/zpj/2011sp.html