Kate Middleton and Prince William tied the knot on April 29, 2011 in a romantic ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London. Three decades earlier, William's parents, Princess Diana and King Charles, married at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. According to one royal expert, Queen Elizabeth II found a "special satisfaction" in watching William and Kate get married, particularly when compared to Charles and Diana.
As reported by the Daily Mail, royal expert and former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown wrote in her book The Palace Papers, "For The Queen, the wedding day brought a special satisfaction. This new, 29-year-old granddaughter-in-law, the future Queen Consort, was unlike the child bride Diana, road-tested in resilience as well as royal life."
Brown also shared that The Queen reportedly turned to her husband, Prince Philip, after Kate and William's wedding ceremony and said, "That was really excellent, wasn't it?"
If Brown's account is true, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly felt more sure about Kate and William's union on their wedding day, especially as the pair were more mature in age. Conversely, Princess Diana was just 20 years old when she married a 32-year-old King Charles.
In late 2024, Princess Kate's brother, James Middleton, released his book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life. The memoir included a plethora of anecdotes about the Princess of Wales, including the fact that Kate and William threw a private late-night after-party following their traditional wedding. James described the party, which took place at London's Goring Hotel, as "bustling" but "calm."
Revealing the after-party's unexpected theme, James wrote, "There, a replica of Basil's Bar on Mustique—a small private island in the Grenadines and a holiday spot the family had visited many times—has been set up." As for why the Prince and Princess of Wales might have wanted to recreate Basil's Bar on Mustique, James called it the "social heart of the island," with celebrities regularly attending the "unassuming little venue."
