Secret revealed Everything escalates shortly before the wedding - Kate's decision causes alarm in the palace
Everything was supposed to go perfectly. But shortly before Prince William and Kate Middleton's dream wedding, an unexpected decision by the bride has the planners sweating - for security reasons, of all things.
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- Kate Middleton deliberately avoided the traditional glass carriage for her 2011 wedding, opting instead to arrive by car.
- The Queen's choice of Rolls-Royce Phantom VI caused uproar at the palace because the same vehicle had been attacked during student protests in London shortly beforehand.
- The car was repaired in time - including custom-made spare parts and special Bordeaux paint - and the wedding went off without incident.
Princess Diana rode to the wedding in it, as did Queen Elizabeth: the Glass Coach, the historic glass coach of the British royal family, is considered a traditional royal vehicle par excellence. Kate Middleton wanted no part of it.
As royal expert Russell Myers explains in his book "William and Catherine - The New Era of the Monarchy", the current Princess of Wales surprised palace staff with her decision just a few weeks before the wedding.
Kate wanted to arrive by car - more contemporary, less overwhelming. According to Myers, she did not yet feel fully settled into her new role and was reluctant to make a grand symbolic entrance in such an imposing vehicle.
The choice fell on the Queen's Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, a vehicle of great symbolic value that Elizabeth II had received as a gift in 1977. But that's where the problem began.
The wrong car at the wrong time
Just a few months earlier, in December 2010, the same vehicle had been involved in an incident that was still keeping the palace's security staff busy. During student protests against tuition fee increases in London, the car in which Prince Charles and Camilla were traveling was pelted with paint and objects by an angry crowd. A rear window was broken.
London's Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after the incident and tightened security measures. Although the damage to the vehicle was limited, the repair was anything but straightforward:
As royal equerry Toby Browne explained to the BBC, individual vehicle parts had to be remade as one-offs. The characteristic Bordeaux paintwork of the royal vehicle fleet also had to be specially reproduced.
In the end, the Rolls-Royce was restored on time and without any visible defects. On April 29, 2011, Kate Middleton arrived at Westminster Abbey on time and without incident. What the pictures that went around the world did not show: the nervousness behind the palace walls in the weeks before.
