British Royal Wedding

There is an intriguing backdrop to today’s royal wedding of the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips to Canadian PA Autumn Kelly at Windsor Castle.

For after Hello! magazine secured a £500,000 deal with the happy couple, courtiers are nervous about just what role the publication will have at the nuptials.

Normally, for splashing out such a vast sum, the glossy would expect to secure photographs of all the principal figures — in this case, Princess Anne, Prince Philip and the Queen. Should this occur, royal complaints about privacy will begin to sound rather hollow.

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This page will be continuously updated this weekend as news of Autumn Kelly and Peter Phillips’ Wedding becomes available! The wedding was held Saturday 17th May at 4pm at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle…

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More than 350 guests, including the queen, are expected to attend the wedding at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and the reception that will follow at the royal estate.

Mingling with the well-heeled and aristocratic wedding guests will be Kelly’s family from Ontario, New Brunswick and the West Island neighbourhood where she grew up.

Her father, Brian Kelly, will be walking her down the aisle. The wedding is the social event of the season not just in England but in Pointe Claire, too.

In the West Island suburbs, where everyone seems to know Autumn Kelly or one of her friends or family members or someone who knows one of her friends or family members, the uninvited are doing the calculations to determine if they are one or six degrees of separation from being seated next to the queen, Prince Philip, Princess Anne – insert the name of your favourite royal…

But as for bona fide details about the wedding – who will be wearing what or sitting where, or what the maid of honour plans to say to her best friend before she formally joins the royal family – that’s another matter.

“I’ve known her forever,” is all Aubie would offer as she walked to her car at the end of the school day one afternoon last week. “I really can’t talk about it right now,” she said. “Maybe later.”

It was the same story when Kitty Kelly answered the door of the family’s home, a two-storey cottage with an above-ground swimming pool in the back yard and a hockey net in the driveway.

“I’ve been asked not to (comment),” she said when asked what she would be wearing and whom she would be sitting next to at the wedding.

Read entire article at The Gazette

Canadian bride, British groom and a no-frills royal wedding – The Star
She gave up Catholicism to marry the Queen’s first-born grandson. But Montrealer Autumn Kelly has no intention of trading away her Canadian passport for entry into Britain’s royal circle. Next Saturday’s ceremony, to be held at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, is planned to unfold with minimal pomp and pageantry. Some 300 guests will attend, compared with the 2,000 who witnessed the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981…

It’s advertising the royal way because one deserves it – The Guardian
There is, apparently, ‘consternation’ at Buckingham Palace, because Peter Phillips has done Hello!. I’m not sure I have ever felt consternation. I have experienced worry, anxiety, irritation, annoyance, exasperation – when trying to get through the switchboard at British Gas, all five at once – but consternation is felt only by those who are too posh to shout…

Pick of the Week – Saturday – Peter Phillips – The Scotsman
Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, is marrying his fiancée at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The bride is Canadian Autumn Kelly, and there are high hopes of their wedding transcending the dull union of a bank employee (him) and a management consultant (her). Among Autumn’s nearest and dearest are her bricklayer brother, hairdresser mother and an uncle who used to run a strip club…

minute tweaks are being made to the marquee on the lawns at Frogmore House, and the Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2006 is on ice.

Every little detail is being attended to, but then ambitious Autumn Kelly was never going to leave anything to chance when she walked down the aisle with the Queen’s favourite grandson, Peter Phillips.

It is a determination that has taken this charming, working-class girl from a suburban backwater of Canada to the heart of the British Royal Family and proved that nowadays, class, breeding and lack of a title (Kate Middleton, take note) are no barrier to joining the Windsor clan.

Seasoned observers have pointed out that, unlike other royal girlfriends – from the then Sophie Rhys-Jones right up to Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy – Autumn has, until this week, enjoyed a seamless introduction to royal life.

So, can anything cast even the smallest shadow over next Saturday’s long-awaited nuptials?

Read entire article at Daily Mail…

Autumn Kelly one of the family as she joins the in-laws at Badminton – Hello Magazine
Two weeks before her wedding, Autumn Kelly took time out of preparations to cheer on future sister-in-law Zara Phillips as she made her Badminton Horse Trials debut. Pretty Canadian Autumn joined fiancé Peter, 30, and his family at the famous cross-country course…

Peter Phillips: How I proposed to Autumn – The Telegraph
The Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips proposed to his fiancee during a rain shower as they walked their dog, the royal has revealed in an interview. “He went down on one knee in the downpour and produced a ring from his pocket. I certainly didn’t see his question coming on this particular day. I looked horrible, in my wellies with wet hair,” Miss Kelly said…

My Autumn Kelly Tabloid Shame – First Post
Kristian Gravenor found Canada tight-lipped when he was hired to dig for dirt on the royal fiancee. What’s this 33-year-old Montrealer like? Should the world be excited by the latest fairytale royal romance? Well, I’m just the man to ask. I was hired by a ruthless British tabloid to sniff out and find the vital facts about this newest addition to the UK’s genetically appointed rulers…

Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips and his fiancee have been paid £500,000 (nearly USD$1M) by a celebrity magazine for an exclusive interview and photoshoot ahead of their wedding.

Phillips and Canadian-born Autumn Kelly — who didn’t know she was dating a prince until six weeks into their relationship — will appear in a 20-page spread in Hello! magazine when it hits the shelves this weekend.

The move has caused friction in royal circles as Phillips — who holds no regal title but is still 11th in line to the throne — has previously claimed to be a private person and avoided the spotlight that falls on his sister Zara and his cousins.

“I honestly can’t believe that they would ever countenance anything quite so vulgar,” one Buckingham Palace source told the conservative British Daily Telegraph broadsheet amid reports Hello! would be locked out of the wedding ceremony itself.

But Phillips was true to form with Kelly: she didn’t realise she was dating a member of the British royal family until she saw footage of Phillips in a documentary about Prince William.

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Prince William will miss the Royal wedding this month – to go on holiday with girlfriend Kate Middleton.

Wills and Kate, 26, had booked two weeks away before he starts a three-month Royal Navy attachment in June.

But they will miss William’s cousin Peter Phillips’ wedding to Autumn Kelly on May 17. Wills is said to have apologised.

A senior source said: “William has already got the couple’s blessing.” The Queen and 300 guests will see Princess Anne’s son, 30, marry at Windsor Castle.

Meanwhile Autumn, 30, has revealed Peter hid his Royal roots from her for six weeks. She only found out when she spotted him on TV next to the Queen. (via The Sun)

The girlfriend of Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips has dramatically changed her religion, it was revealed last night — weeks before they wed.

It means Peter, 30, will now not lose his position as an heir to the throne.

The 11th in line would have had to give up his royal standing when he marries Autumn Kelly, 31, in three weeks if she had remained a Catholic.

But she has now become a member of the Church of England — of which the Queen is Defender of the Faith. Under the Act of Settlement of 1701, royals who marry Catholics are removed from the line of succession, like Prince Michael of Kent.

Buckingham Palace insisted that the decision to convert was Autumn’s alone – and took place several months ago. A spokeswoman said last night: “Autumn has been welcomed into the Church of England.”

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be the chief guests at the couple’s May 17 wedding in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. (via The Sun)

The last time she dressed up, royal bride-to-be Autumn Kelly sported a pair of Playboy bunny-style flashing ears for her hen night.

Now I hear Autumn, who marries the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips next month, is planning something a little more sophisticated for a fashion shoot ahead of her Windsor wedding.

“A feel-good magazine is preparing a feature on Autumn’s style,” I am told. “Despite her demure appearance, Autumn is fashion-conscious. She wants to show that just because she’s from Canada, she’s still at home dressing in the top labels.”

Such a picture spread might mark a shift in attitudes towards Autumn and Peter, whose romance has rarely attracted the paparazzi.

Glossy magazines have enjoyed a close relationship with Princess Anne’s family over the years. Her daughter Zara Phillips has featured several times in Hello! (via Daily Mail)