View Full Version : Bets off on Prince William wedding
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Shhh! Prince William, Britain's future king, will marry on July 19.
A British bookmaker has closed its books on William and Kate Middleton getting hitched on that day after it received a number of bets the couple will tie the knot then.
"We've taken a number of large bets -- one punter wanted to place a £1,000 bet -- that the couple will marry on July 19, so we're no longer accepting wagers on that day," a William Hill spokesman told Reuters.
William Hill stands to lose in excess of £50,000 if the couple marry in 2007 and more than £20,000 if they wed on July 19.
Earlier this week William and Kate were given an unusually high level of police security when 10 officers provided the couple with a cordon as they emerged from a London nightclub, fueling rumors of an imminent engagement announcement.
William and Kate shared a house as students at St. Andrews University in Scotland. From there, romance gradually blossomed.
Middleton, who turns 25 next week, is the daughter of affluent parents who sent her to private school and live in a five-bedroom house in the heart of the English countryside.
They run their own mail order party supplies company.
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/WORLD/europe/01/06/william.wedding.reut/story.william.afp.gi.jpg
:uhh:
Who cares. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Maybe it will take importance when he become a king, won't you?:p
ELEANOR MAW
01-07-2007, 5:16am
When They Do Get Married We Will Have To Pay Out Of Our Tax We Pay In The Uk For The Wedding !, Just Think That Money Would Be Better Spent In An African Village To Help Feed The Children, That Would Be Nice.
englishemme
01-07-2007, 7:07am
^^ I'm sure tax payers wouldn't pay for it all...anyway, how many marriage of this size do you get?! We do help Africa in otherways. :)
& I just wish the press would get off their backs! How amusing if they split up!
When They Do Get Married We Will Have To Pay Out Of Our Tax We Pay In The Uk For The Wedding !, Just Think That Money Would Be Better Spent In An African Village To Help Feed The Children, That Would Be Nice.
Everyone in the world, in the middle of the capitalism, we must pay in order to hold her family up:uhh: Nothing new with this. But a good reason if we start to think about paying taxes for better reasons:)
^^ I'm sure tax payers wouldn't pay for it all...anyway, how many marriage of this size do you get?! We do help Africa in otherways. :)
Atleast we have several other ways to help people in Africa. This might be a unique marriage like few of them has been done.
Prince William's girlfriend spurs a media storm
On 25th birthday, Kate Middleton faces similar scrutiny as Diana
LONDON - She makes headlines for getting a parking ticket, newspapers comment on her fashion choices, and her 25th birthday on Tuesday is generating a media storm.
Prince William’s girlfriend, Kate Middleton, may one day become queen of England. Before then, she is undergoing the ordeal seemingly demanded of royal wannabes since Lady Diana Spencer began dating Prince Charles more than a quarter-century ago.
A frenzy is building around Middleton — fueled, perhaps, by a large dose of wishful thinking from the press and public.
Pictures of the brunette fashion buyer, who has dated William since both were university students, fetch thousands of dollars from the tabloid press. Paparazzi follow her to work, on shopping trips and on nights out with the prince. One recent, widely published snapshot showed Middleton receiving a ticket from a parking warden outside her London home.
The retail chain Woolworths has commissioned Wills-and-Kate engagement memorabilia, despite the absence of any evidence that a betrothal announcement is imminent.
“It would be more of a surprise now if they split than if they marry,” said Robert Jobson, author of the recently published book “William’s Princess.”
“I think it’s only a matter of time before this role of princess in waiting is changed to being a real princess and maybe one day queen consort.”
'It's a question of when, not if'
British bookmaking firm William Hill says it is so certain William will pop the question, it has stopped taking bets on whether the pair will get engaged — only on the date.
“We’re certain they will — it’s a question of when, not if,” said spokesman Rupert Adams.
William Hill said it is a 4-5 probability the pair will announce their engagement in 2007, and is offering 3-1 odds they will marry this year.
The prince and Middleton have dated since they were both students at St. Andrews University in Scotland, and were first photographed together on a skiing holiday shortly before their graduation in 2005.
There have been persistent reports in recent weeks that the two may soon announce their engagement.
Born in the commuter town of Reading, west of London, Middleton — unlike most previous royal consorts — is a quintessentially middle-class Englishwoman. Her father worked for an airline and her mother was a flight attendant; they now run a mail-order business specializing in children’s parties.
As a high school student she attended an elite private school, where she played tennis and field hockey, before studying art history at St. Andrews. She and William shared a student house in the seaside university town.
Paparazzi hounding
Amid the spiraling media interest, Middleton, and the royal family, want to avoid a repeat of the paparazzi hounding endured by William’s mother, the late Princess Diana.
Preliminary hearings for an inquest into Diana’s death in a 1997 car crash opened at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on Monday.
Middleton is older, and perhaps better prepared for media scrutiny, than Diana, who was just 19 when she began dating Prince Charles. The pair married in 1981, in a fairy-tale ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral watched by an estimated 700 million people around the world.
Middleton’s lawyers have complained to newspaper editors, requesting she be left alone, and British newspapers have recently reported that she is to be given a round-the-clock guard from the police royal protection squad — a key sign of inclusion in the royal circle.
The royal family appears to be quietly easing Middleton into its public events, as well.
Last month, she was in attendance, along with the queen, when William, 24, graduated from Sandhurst military academy. He has since joined the Blues and Royals, an elite cavalry regiment.
“The queen was there, yet Kate stole the limelight,” Jobson said. “The fact they allowed her to do that signaled intent. It shows that this is a very serious relationship. It’s not a frivolous one.”
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16537748/
Uhhh.. Thanks for this info. Will she be the new Lady D? :uhh:
No fairy-tale wedding for Prince William
LONDON - Many saw her as Britain's future queen, but it looks like Kate Middleton's royal romance will not have a fairy-tale ending.
Middleton and Prince William have ended their four-year relationship, a decision that surprised palace-watchers and disappointed monarchists hoping for a glamorous royal wedding to rival that of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
For many Britons, however, the split provided more evidence that the royals are as human as anyone else.
"I think they're just like any other couple," said Minet Marshall, a 36-year-old London office worker. "They're young, and before you meet the right person you have to kiss a lot of frogs."
The Sun newspaper reported the breakup Saturday in a front-page story, saying the couple had reached an "amicable agreement" to separate.
William's Clarence House office refused to comment, saying it did not discuss the prince's private life, but royal sources did not deny the report, tacitly acknowledging it was true.
The news took many royal-watchers by surprise. It was widely thought the couple would soon announce their engagement; one bookmaker was so certain of a royal wedding it stopped taking bets on it earlier this year. The retail chain Woolworths had commissioned mugs, plates and other Wills-and-Kate memorabilia, despite the absence of a formal engagement.
Behind the scenes, a different story unfolded. The Sun said the split was caused by the "extraordinary pressures" on the couple and by William's career in the army. The second in line to the throne graduated from Sandhurst military academy in December and is undergoing further training at an army base in rural England, while Middleton lives in London.
Even though William was photographed at nightclubs in the company of several young women in recent weeks, there was little speculation that the relationship was on the rocks.
The prince, 24, and Middleton, 25, met as students at St. Andrew's University in Scotland in 2001 and had been dating since 2003.
Once their relationship became public with a joint photo on a Swiss skiing holiday in 2004, Middleton was a media darling. The brunette fashion buyer was photographed attending public events, going to work, even getting a parking ticket — a level of attention that evoked the romance of William's father, Prince Charles, and then-Lady Diana Spencer a quarter-century ago.
"William, after what happened to his father, cannot get it wrong," The Sun's royal reporter Duncan Larcombe told AP Television News. "He cannot marry the wrong woman, and I suppose, in a funny kind of way, it's better that we're here today talking about his girlfriend leaving, splitting up with her, than us talking about a royal divorce."
Charles and Diana married at St. Paul's Cathedral in 1981, in a televised ceremony watched by millions around the world. They had two sons, William and Harry, but divorced in 1996 after admissions of adultery on both sides. Diana died in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
William was determined Middleton would not suffer the same media hounding his mother had endured, appealing through his office for the media to leave her alone.
Last month, Middleton lodged a complaint of media harassment with Britain's media watchdog, the Press Complaints Commission. She settled the claim earlier this month following an apology and admission of error by the Daily Mirror newspaper.
"It would put pressure on any relationship, that sort of attention," said Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine. But she said the media was not to blame for the split.
Seward said the couple's relationship had simply reached an impasse.
"They can't go forward because William is in the army and he's dedicated the next few years of his life to that, so he's not in a position to get married," she said.
"They had lived together when they were at university, so in a way their relationship has become more difficult. They have seen a lot less of each other and are under a huge amount of pressure."
Some held out hope for a happy ending.
"Let's not rule out a reconciliation when he realizes what he has lost," said Judy Wade, veteran royal correspondent for Hello! magazine.
Others were glad to see the end of the affair.
"He deserves better," said 13-year-old Jessica Davis. "I think Prince William should marry me."
____
Associated Press Writer D'Arcy Doran contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070414/ap_en_ce/people_prince_william
ELEANOR MAW
04-15-2007, 4:48am
Kate Middleton is probably better off not getting married to that clown. He needs to grow up in his position, I feel sorry for him, I would hate to be a Royal, I am a fan of the Royal Family, I like the dad that farts in his armchair, great TV comedy.
Prince William, Kate Middleton back together
Report: Royal heir invited Middleton to Princess Diana memorial concert
LONDON - Prince William and former girlfriend Kate Middleton have resumed their relationship, British newspapers reported Sunday.
The young couple, who announced in April they had split, attended a party at an army barracks together earlier this month, newspapers claimed.
William, 25, has also invited Middleton to attend a memorial concert to his late mother, Princess Diana, to be held at London’s Wembley Stadium next Sunday, the Mail on Sunday reported.
A spokeswoman for William’s Clarence House office declined to comment on the reports.
“We don’t discuss William’s private life, it’s a matter for him,” she said, on customary condition of anonymity, in line with policy.
Britain’s News of The World tabloid claimed the couple had been on a string of low-key dates since their April split.
William, second in line to the British throne and a second lieutenant in the country’s army, celebrated his 25th birthday on Thursday and gained access to part of the inheritance left him by his mother.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19400174/?GT1=10056
Hey thanks for the article. Together again uhm:D
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