The Prince and the coal miner's great-great-great-great-granddaughter

Front page, 17 Nov 2010 issue of The Times, shows the blue engagement ring, his late mother's.

[Foreword:  We first read about the-prince-and-the-commoner story in the 27th November 2010 issue of El Mercurio, published in Santiago, Chile as Los Middleton de las minas de carbon a Buckingham [The Middletons. From the coal  mines to Buckingham].  The original in English was written by Andrew Norfolk for 19th November issue of The Press of The Times with the title Amazing journey from pit to palace. 

Clipped from the front page of the Saturday (Sabado), 27 Nov2010, issue of El Mercurio.

The feature page of the cover story, The Middletons/From the coal mines to Buckingham.

We clipped several rich illustrations from El Mercurio's follow-up stories and are spread out in this article. Our captions/notes are translations of the newspaper's Spanish text.]
 

As of this writing, it's 26 days to the "wedding of the decade", as one newspaper puts it, when Prince William takes Catherine 'Kate' Middleton to be his wife, "till death do [they] part." 

It's a Cinderella 2011 story, the second-in-line to the British crown marrying a coal miner's great-great-great-great-granddaughter on 29th April 2011!  This could have been unthinkable even in fairly recent times, a would-be-king bringing a commoner into the royal household, a stuff for mushy movies and dime novels. 

From the feature story of 02 April 2011 of ,El Mercurio.  Wedding details shown include the route to the reception from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace; the blue sapphire engagement ring studded with 14 diamonds; the Rolls Royce Phantom VI that Kate will ride to the church; the State Landau 1902 that the newly weds will take from the Abbey to the reception; the main altar where the couple will exchange vows; St Edward's Chapel where the bride and groom will sign the marriage certificate; assigned seating places of the royal family, VIPs and other invited guests. 1,900 people have been invited, and about 2-billion are estimated to watch the live TV coverage.  Five carriages drawn by 18 horses will bring the newlyweds, the royal family and the sponsors to Buckingham.  The newlyweds will be greeted by 21 cannon shots from Fort Amherst.  The British press estimates that the Royal Wedding will cost about $80-million.

 

Kate's ancestors on her maternal side, 27-year-old James Harrison and the generations after  him, toiled underground for wages in the coal mines owned by the family of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who married into the royal family and would later become Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Prince William's great-grandmother.

Clipping from 23 Mar 2011 issue of El Mercurio showing the carriage and Rolls Royce.  Princess Diana rode in this carriage during her wedding to  Prince Charles.

James Harrison moved to the collieries when these opened in 1821.  It was Thomas Harrison, Kate's great-grandfather, born 1904, who would dare move out from the coal shafts and seek for fortune away from the mining town.

From the 27 Nov 2010 issue of El Mercurio:  The royal weddings of Queen Isabel and the Duke of Edinburgh (20 Nov 1947); Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson (07 Jul 1986); and Prince Charles and Diana (29 Jul 1981).  Also shown are the portrait of Princess Diana and her wedding dresses.

Kate proceeds from Thomas's daughter Dorothy (born 1935) and granddaughter Carole (born 1955)--women who worked hard to improve their social standing.   Carole worked with the British Airways where she met Michael Middleton.  Kate's parents got married in 1980, brought forth Kate in 1982, and launched their children's party business in 1987.

From the 27 Nov 2010 issue of El Mercurio.   Three pictures of Kate Middleton, one taken in an official event, another at a disco, and the third at Buckingham.  Middle photo shows her parents Michael and Carole Middleton.  Bottom right photo shows the prince's parents.

The world of course knows that the prince and the collier's great-great-great-great-granddaughter met at St Andrews University, were into a relationship for seven years, got engaged while on holiday in Kenya in October 2010, and their wedding date formally announced on 16 November 2010.

This is the 28 March 2011 front page of Red i of Chicago.

London is in frenzy these days.  We surmise that hotel rooms have already been pre-booked soon after the wedding announcement.  We can be certain that there is an increasing demand of whatever astute businessmen can think of as souvenir items like the usual caps, t-shirts, key chains, decals, etcetera.  There's The Royal Wedding William & Kate website that features "all the latest news, gossip, trivia" and where one can buy online "china, merchandise, souvenirs, memorabilia ..." and also a running days-hours-minutes-seconds countdown.

Clipping from the front page of the 17 Nov 2010 issue of Express of The Washington Post.

The Royal Mail has already announced that a commerative stamp of the royal wedding is to be launched on April 21 featuring the couple's official engagement pictures.

In this age of instant news, two billion viewers worldwide are estimated to watch the live TV coverage of William&Kate's wedding at the Westminster Abbey.  

We of course do not belong to the lucky 1,900 persons who have been invited to the royal wedding.

Clipping from the front page of the 06 December 2010 issue of My Paper of Singapore.