PRINCE William and Kate Middleton’s love story has captivated the world, and the couple have been by each other’s side through both happiness and heartache.
The Princess of Wales revealed on March 22, 2024, she was undergoing treatement for cancer in a heartfelt video, saying it was a huge shock for her and her young family.
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Kate Middleton and Prince William tied the knot in April 2011Credit: AP:Associated Press
How old are Prince William and Kate Middleton?
Prince William was born on June 21, 1982, at St Mary’s Hospital in London and will celebrate his 42nd birthday in 2024.
He is two years older than his brother Prince Harry,
Following the Queen’s death became first in line to the throne.
While Kate and William were born in the same year, the Princess of Wales is five months and two days older than her husband.
The couple are based at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor having relocated there in the summer of 2022.
However, they also have a country home in Norfolk called Anmer Hall.
Kate is particularly fond of the rural getaway and as well as spending most of the school holidays there, she chooses to celebrate her birthday at the house every year.
The royal couple’s love story started when they first crossed paths in 2001, when they went to university together at St. Andrews.
The pair went on to become friends and it was more than a year before things turned romantic between them.
In October 2010, it was announced that Kate and William were engaged after a proposal in Kendal.
The loved-up Prince said at the time: “We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided it was the right time, really.
“We’d been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasn’t a massively big surprise, but I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya.”
The official statement said: “official statement reading: “The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.
“The wedding will take place in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.”
When were Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children born?
Wills and Kate announced in December 2012 that they were expecting their first child together.
On July 22, 2013, Kate was admitted to St Mary’s Hospital, where William himself was born, and emerged with a son – Prince George.
In September 2014, the royal couple announced that Kate was pregnant again, which resulted in the birth of Princess Charlotte at the same hospital on May 2, 2015.
On September 4, 2017, Kate and William revealed that they were expecting their third child.
On the morning of April 23, 2018, Kensington Palace tweeted that the Duchess was in labour and it was announced that she had delivered a baby boy at 11.01 am.
While Kate and William were born in the same year, the Princess of Wales is five months and two days older than her husband.
The couple are based at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor having relocated there in the summer of 2022.
However, they also have a country home in Norfolk called Anmer Hall.
Kate is particularly fond of the rural getaway and as well as spending most of the school holidays there, she chooses to celebrate her birthday at the house every year.
The royal couple’s love story started when they first crossed paths in 2001, when they went to university together at St. Andrews.
The pair went on to become friends and it was more than a year before things turned romantic between them.
In October 2010, it was announced that Kate and William were engaged after a proposal in Kendal.
The loved-up Prince said at the time: “We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided it was the right time, really.
“We’d been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasn’t a massively big surprise, but I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya.”
The official statement said: “official statement reading: “The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.
“The wedding will take place in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.”
When were Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children born?
Wills and Kate announced in December 2012 that they were expecting their first child together.
On July 22, 2013, Kate was admitted to St Mary’s Hospital, where William himself was born, and emerged with a son – Prince George.
In September 2014, the royal couple announced that Kate was pregnant again, which resulted in the birth of Princess Charlotte at the same hospital on May 2, 2015.
On September 4, 2017, Kate and William revealed that they were expecting their third child.
On the morning of April 23, 2018, Kensington Palace tweeted that the Duchess was in labour and it was announced that she had delivered a baby boy at 11.01 am.
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ANDREW PARKER BOWLES is perhaps best known for being the ex-husband of Queen Camilla but his royal connections go beyond just that.
Since her and Andrew’s split Camilla has gone on to become a member of the Royal Family thanks to her marriage to King Charles and Andrew has also gone on to find love again.
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Andrew Parker Bowles is the former husband of King Charles III’s wife Queen CamillaCredit: Karwai Tang/WireImage
Who is Andrew Parker Bowles?
Andrew Parker Bowles is a retired British Army officer.
He was born on December 27, 1939, and is the eldest child of Derek Henry Parker Bowles and Ann Parker Bowles.
Andrew’s father was the great-grandson of Thomas Parker, the sixth Earl of Macclesfield, and his mother was the daughter of racehorse owner Sir Humphrey de Trafford.
Camilla gave birth to their son Tom Parker Bowles on December 18, 1974, a year after they married, and four years later the pair had their second child Laura Lopes.
Andrew and Camilla divorced in 1995, after he had various affairs during the marriage.
He then married Rosemary Alice Pitman, who was previously married to Lieutenant Colonel John Hugh Pitman, in 1996 but she sadly died in 2010 to cancer.
The couple reportedly got together in late 2022 after being set up by a mutual friend.
A friend of the pair said: “They have judiciously avoided being photographed together as they both wanted to keep this quiet for as long as possible.
“Annie proudly tells everyone she is the daughter of a market trader chicken-seller and is as far removed from a toff as could be — frankly it beats any storyline The Crown could possibly come up with.
“Annie and Andrew get on splendidly — she makes him laugh, a lot, and he is one of the few people to get away with poking fun at her.”
How old is Andrew Parker Bowles?
As of December 2023, Andrew is 83 years old.
He was born on December 27, 1939, in Surrey, England.
What is the relationship between Princess Anne and Andrew Parker Bowles?
It has been rumoured that Princess Anne and Andrew were a couple for in the 1970s but split before his engagement to Camilla.
Biographer Sally Bedell Smith told Elle.com that the relationship could not have been “very serious between Anne and Andrew because Andrew was Catholic”.
Princess Anne and Andrew stayed friends after their rumoured romance and he was later named the godfather to Zara Tindall, Anne’s daughter.
Are Andrew Parker Bowles and Camilla still friends?
Andrew and Camilla have remained friends despite getting divorced in 1995.
King Charles’scoronation means we’re going to see a whole array of royal items most of which haven’t been seen since his mother was crowned.
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was 70 years ago, in 1953 and there’s no arguing that life was pretty different back then. But, stately occasions such as the crowning of a sovereign mean ancient objects which stretch back centuries get their time in the spotlight again.
So, you probably know there’s a crown (two, to be precise) and quite a few objects like sceptres and orbs involved – but did you know about all of this?
The Stone Of Scone
Or the Scone of Destiny, as it’s more formally known is stored underneath the Coronation Chair. Compared to everything else, it seems quite… ordinary. Just a 335 pound block of red sandstone.
But, it could be the most symbolic part of the entire coronation. Monarchs in Britain have been crowned on it for centuries (potentially back to the 9th Century) and is associated with Scotland’s monarchy.
Its departure from Edinburgh to London for the coronation was even marked with a special ceremony, and its journey down south had to be seriously organised with the police.
The Stone of Destiny is old – very old.
RUSSELL CHEYNE via Getty Images
Coronation Chair
This is far from just a chair. According to Westminster Abbey, this is “one of the most precious and famous pieces of furniture in the world,” having been the centerpiece of coronations in the UK for over 700 years.
It was made by order of Edward I to enclose the Stone of Scone, and has been in use since around 1308. It was even stolen briefly by Scottish Nationalists on Christmas Day in 1950, but recovered the following year.
The Coronation Chair – It’s kind of a big deal.
DAN KITWOOD via Getty Images
Diamond Jubilee Coach
The Diamond Jubilee Coach (which is three tons, 18ft, and built in 2014 and very high-tech) will be used by Charles and Camilla to travel from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for the coronation.
It is ornate and was used repeatedly by the Queen (as it was supposed to be made in time for her 80th birthday) so you’ve probably seen it before.
But, what you might not know is that incorporates materials from iconic British figures – such as Florence Nightingale’s dress and one of Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest ladders, segments related to William Shakespeare and a counterweight from Big Ben.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach on the Mall in London on October 14, 2019.
ISABEL INFANTES via Getty Images
Swords Of Spiritual Justice, Mercy, And Temporal Justice
Three swords will be carried (unsheathed and pointing upwards) before the King when he enters Westminster Abbey, along with two royal maces. It’s a practice which dates back to Richard the Lionheart in 1189, apparently, although these specific swords were made in 1626 for Charles I.
The Sword of Temporal Justice: Symbolises monarch’s role as head of the Armed Forces
Sword of Mercy or Curtana: Signifies sovereign’s mercy
Sword of Spiritual Justice: Represents monarch’s role as Defender of the Faith
Swords which will be carried in front of Charles in Westminster Abbey.
Charles will anointed with this by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the holiest part of the coronation, using something called the Ampulla (below) which stores the oil, and the Coronation Spoon.
As the Royal Family’s website explains: “The Coronation oil is based on the oil used at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the formula of which has been used for hundreds of years. It will also be used for the anointing of Her Majesty The Queen Consort.”
This year it’s made from oil groves on the Mount of Olives, where the King’s paternal grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg, was buried, and will not use any animal ingredients. Previous versions included extracts from small mammals and whales’ intestines…
The oil, which also has a highly religious element, was consecrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, too, where Jesus is believed to have died.
The Supertunica is a full-length coat of gold silk inspired by Byzantine Empire and embroidered with symbols of home nations which Charles will wear during the ceremony.
The Colobium Sindonis is simply a white garment which the monarch also wears during the anointing, which symbolises purity before God.
Presenting: The Supertunica
Tim Graham via Getty Images
The *Second* Coach
OK, you probably knew there was a coach involved. But did you know there were *two* different ones?
The Gold State Coach is for the coronation procession, going from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
It has cherubs on the roof representing England, Scotland and Ireland, weighs four tons, each wheel has a massive triton figure and has painted panels of Roman gods and goddesses. And, oh yeah, it’s 29ft long.
It’s been used at every coronation since 1831 and isn’t actually made of solid gold – but because of its weight, it can only go at walking pace.
ONE of Dodi Fayed’s former lovers has told how she ditched him when she feared he was cheating on her with Princess Diana – and now agonises over whether her move played a role in their deaths.
Ex-model Annie Cardone said: “One decision I made in that moment, in early summer 1997, right before they went public . . .
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Ex-model Annie Cardone, one of Dodi Fayed’s former lovers, has told how she now agonises over whether her dumping him played a role in his death alongside Princess DianaCredit: Jerry Hinkle
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Annie told The Sun about her life with Dodi, whose death aged 42 in a Paris car crash with Diana came just months after he and Annie split upCredit: AP
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Ex-model Annie, pictured now, has told how she ditched Dodi when she feared he was cheating on her with Princess Diana – and now agonises over the decisionCredit: Louis Wood
“If I’d given him another chance, would things have been different? Would history have changed?
“That’s a burden of responsibility that I feel I have.”
She added: “When I last saw him, he was begging for another chance. He was crying. He was sobbing.
“He was telling me he loved me and it was incredibly hard to see him like that. I still get choked about it.”
Now 57 and living in Canterbury, Kent, she recalled: “He was incredibly tactile, loving and sweet. It was very passionate and intense.”
Annie claimed there was “definitely an overlap” with her and Diana dating playboy Dodi, who was known for his wild living and womanising.
She admitted she was initially “annoyed” when she discovered he was dating Diana — who she believes knew nothing about her — but said she is now pleased she was able to experience Dodi’s devoted love.
Of Diana, she said: “We were both very, very lucky to have been on the receiving end of that. Not many women were.”
Cocaine brick
Annie, now an author whose latest book is Menopause WTH!, spoke to The Sun ahead of Channel 5 documentary, Dodi: Last Days Of A Playboy.
The programme, in which she features, lifts the lid on Dodi’s life, from his early days in his native Egypt, to dealing with his parents’ divorce at a young age, building a career in Hollywood as a film producer and going on to date the most famous woman in the world.
Five-times-married Annie, who was scouted as a model in her early 20s, said she met Dodi in the summer of 1996 at London’s most decadent late-night haunt, Tramp nightclub.
Annie, who by then had quit modelling for public relations, recalled how he asked her friend if she would dance with him but she declined.
She said: “It was midnight and I didn’t want to be there.”
But Dodi overheard her reply and Annie said: “I remember his little face. It’s like someone had sold his dog. I felt bad for him.”
Annie recalled: “Dodi had moves. He surprised me because he looked like a wet blanket.”
She added: “He wasn’t a great conversationalist or raconteur. He was very shy.”
The first night she stayed at Dodi’s Park Lane apartment felt like a scene from the film An Officer And A Gentleman, according to Annie.
Dodi — who had attended Sandhurst, the British Army’s top officer training academy — had filled it with “beautiful military uniforms” and he held her hand as she walked down the stairs.
In the current series of Netflix drama The Crown, Dodi is seen snorting cocaine and making love to his latest girlfriend on a private jet paid for by his dad, but Annie said the reality was far less glamorous for her.
She recalls: “We would go to Harry’s Bar, he’d have the truffles, then we’d go to Tramp and go back to his place with a bunch of losers.
“I’d try and get an early night because I had to get up in the morning.
“He’d come to bed a bit later.
“We’d have a bit of hanky panky for a few hours. I’d get up at 6am and have to borrow one of his Ralph Lauren polo sweaters to wear on the walk of shame to work.”
She added sarcastically: “So yeah, it was really glamorous.”
Annie was a fan of the hit Netflix series but stopped watching before it focused on her ex’s famous relationship with Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki.
She said: “I don’t trust The Crown to have done an accurate portrayal and it’ll just annoy me.”
Annie said she decided to break off her romance with Dodi, which lasted almost a year, because she had a hunch there was another woman.
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Annie said she discovered her ex was dating Diana when she saw pictures of them in St Tropez on the French Riviera — including the famous ‘kiss’ photoCredit: Jason Fraser
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As the son of billionaire former Harrods owner Mohamed Fayed, Dodi had private jets and yachts at his disposalCredit: Alpha Photo Press Agency
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Diana and Dodi relax on a speedboat during a break in St Tropez in the South of France shortly before their deaths in 1997Credit: Rex Features
She said she first suspected something was up when a trip they had planned to the US for Christmas 1996 with Bruce Willis and Demi Moore — who film producer Dodi worked with on the 1995 movie The Scarlet Letter — was cancelled.
Annie said: “We had plans to go to Colorado to spend time with Bruce and Demi. We were all set to go and we were both excited about it.
Absolutely destroyed
“The trip didn’t happen and we had words about it.”
She recalled how Dodi suddenly “changed” and “went quiet”. She added: “Obviously I knew. You can read the temperature.”
Dodi had first met Diana at a polo match in 1989, but they did not get together until his dad invited her to stay at his mansion in St Tropez in July 1997. Annie said she discovered her ex was dating Diana when she saw the pictures of them in the luxurious resort on the French Riviera — including the famous “kiss” photo.
But she believes they got together “quite a long time” before things were made public.
When she heard the news she admitted: “I was a little annoyed.”
As well as Annie, the new film hears from those closest to Dodi including British former Royal Military Police officer Lee Sansum, one of the Fayed family’s personal bodyguards, and Dodi’s personal butler of seven years, René Delorm, who lived with him and travelled the world with him.
Peter Riva, who knew Dodi from his time at an elite Swiss boarding school, also claims in the documentary he once saw Dodi carrying a “brick” of cocaine at the notorious Studio 54 nightclub in New York.
When the news came out that the Princess was dating Dodi, Annie said his wild past led her to predict a bad outcome for the relationship.
She said: “There was a sense of foreboding. I knew he was going to get crucified. Everyone she was with was going to get absolutely destroyed.
“He had a lot to hide, unfortunately. I had this real fear. And I just actually said to a friend, ‘This is not going to end well’.”
In the 90s, well-connected Annie lived a jet-set lifestyle. She was pals with the late socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and former Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli, who last year became Britain’s richest divorcee with a £400million settlement after splitting from her billionaire husband, Swiss biotech tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli.
Annie said: “I think I was the only one of my friends who wasn’t a Trust Fund kid. I was the only one having to get up at 6am and go to work.”
And she said ditching Dodi was a “turning point” in her life.
Annie said: “I wasn’t at all in the spotlight, but a lot of my friends like Tara Palmer-Tomkinson were, and I saw them spiralling out of control.”
She added: “It was a turning point to leave behind a lifestyle that I wasn’t enjoying. And I made the decision to live a calmer and peaceful, quieter life.”
Single Annie — who was once married to entrepreneur Gary Cardone, whose brother Grant was in US reality TV series Undercover Billionaire — said she and Dodi were not a great match — but he and Diana were.
After seeing the CCTV footage of the pair in the lift at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on that fateful night in August 1997 just before they were killed, she said she could see he was “absolutely besotted” with Diana.
While he was alive, divorced Dodi — who was married to model Suzanne Gregard for eight months in the 1980s — reportedly dated a string of famous models and actresses, including Julia Roberts, Brooke Shields and Winona Ryder.
American model Kelly Fisher was reportedly engaged to Dodi before Diana. When paparazzi photographs revealed the Princess looking cosy with Dodi on a yacht, Kelly was so outraged she sued her fiance.
Despite his playboy reputation, Annie insisted he would have stayed faithful to Diana, had they both lived.
Annie, who also runs a dog rescue Facebook group, said: “I think they would have had children, had a family, because their goals and purposes were aligned.
“I do believe, if there was The One, then Diana was his one.”
Dodi: Last Days Of A Playboy is on Channel 5 Wednesday at 9pm.
