ROYAL bride Kate Middleton was hard at work in Westminster Abbey yesterday...determined not to drop a wedding day clanger like Prince William’s mum.
Diana, just 20 when she exchanged vows 30 years ago with Prince Charles, was so nervous she famously fluffed her lines and called him Philip Charles Arthur George instead of Charles Philip Arthur George
So it is no surprise Kate, 29, is determined to get it right when she weds William in front of 1,900 guests and TWO BILLION TV viewers worldwide.
She’s been practising over and over again the full name of her 28-year-old husband-to-be – William Arthur Philip Louis.
Yesterday Kate was joined for the wedding rehearsal by chief bridesmaid sister Pippa, 27, and best man Prince Harry, 26.
Also there to troop behind the bride-to-be and learn their steps were the six excited little bridesmaids and page boys who will attend on her in two weeks’ time.
A royal source said yesterday: “Of course Kate and William want everything to go perfectly on their big day. There will be lots of rehearsals.
“This particular one was focussed on the bridesmaids and page boys as Kate is very conscious that she wants them to be comfortable on the big day.
Proudly marching along the nave of the abbey, too, were page boys William Lowther-Pinkerton, 10, son of William’s private secretary and Tom Pettifer, eight, son of William and Harry’s former nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke.
After the rehearsal they were given a short tour of the abbey by the Very Reverend John Hall, Dean of Westminster, who will conduct the service on the day.
Kate felt it was important for the children to get a feel of the thousand-year-old building because she wants them to be as confident and calm as possible when the world’s media focus on them during the 75-minute ceremony on April 29.
The Dean is one of three clergymen who will be involved in the ceremony. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will marry the couple and Bishop of London Richard Chartres – a university pal of Prince Charles – will give the address.
Prince William’s duties as a search-and-rescue pilot at RAF Anglesey, North Wales, meant he could not be at yesterday’s rehearsal.
But he has also been telling friends he is feeling pressure building for the big day – even admitting publicly that his knees were “tapping together” at a rehearsal three weeks ago.
The bride – dubbed Waity Katie during the couple’s dating years for hanging on so long for a proposal – will turn the tables on Wills when she arrives at the abbey for the ceremony.
Even if everything goes perfectly and the timetable runs to the second, William will still have a nail-biting 45-minute wait at the altar.
He will arrive there with Prince Harry at 10.15am – a full two hours after the first of the guests take their places at the back of the abbey.
Kate and her entourage are due to arrive on the dot of 11am – but sources say she may keep him waiting a bit longer.
While she does not want to fluff her lines like William’s mum, royal aides have indicated that Kate would like to follow in her footsteps by exercising the bride’s historic prerogative to delay proceedings. Diana was a few seconds late for her wedding to Charles, which started at 11.20am on July 29, 1981.
A royal source grinned yesterday: “It’s impossible to say exactly what will happen at the abbey. But you have to admit that every bride has the right to keep her bridegroom waiting for just a little on her big day.”
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