William, 19, smart in a navy suit, won over everyone with his customary coy charm. But her seat in the choir had been made ready. William was particularly tickled as scores of Hell’s Angels roared up The Mall towards them. But she did not cry. ‘She doesn’t notice things like that,’ said one official.

He simply adored her.’. She touched her and held her, each it seemed, supporting the other. One, in the Sunday Times, suggested the wedding had done nothing to increase Charles’s popularity. Behind the royals were the Princess's London staff and behind them, her friends. Viewer Patricia Wells, who was watching at her home in Scunthorpe, said: ‘For Mrs Blair not to wear a hat was unforgivable and in the worst taste. They had already stood alongside their mother’s coffin and seen their grandmother lose her sister — now they had lost the great-grandmother they adored. After almost seven happy and glorious decades on the throne the Queen has now become Britain's longest serving monarch.

The BBC claimed the lion’s share of wedding viewers, with 6.2 million, while ITV had 1.1 million.

Buckingham Palace insisted that Mrs Blair’s failure to wear a hat had not upset the Queen. It started at 9:48 am on 9 April 2002, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey sounded 101 times, each chime representing a year that the Queen Mother had lived. The Queen gave special permission for Charles to travel on the same aircraft as William and Harry, a BAe 146 from Zurich to Northolt, so that neither would be deprived of the other’s company. Beside him his wife quietly wept. Never was its sound so poignant.

2005: Marriage of Charles and Camilla: Wills' kiss for Camilla (and Harry gives her a peck too!).

I walked down a country lane to our local street party where men wore Union Jack bowler hats, and we all arrived with scones, cakes, cucumber sandwiches and meringues, and shared a feast fit for a queen.

I drove from London to Gloucestershire, to Dorset, and every village and small town appeared to have hung out the bunting. Most of us want to get on with our neighbours, feel involved in the community and would rather do a kindly deed than a bad one. The only other person present was the Queen Mother’s devoted niece, the Hon Margaret Rhodes, who described the scene as ‘extraordinarily emotional and very moving’. Starting in Scotland on Thursday, followed by England next month and Wales in July, the newlyweds will travel Britain, meeting and greeting members of the public. ‘There will be a tour of the country and a solo engagement, probably in aid of the National Osteoporosis Society, of which she is patron.’. 'At peace at last,' a mourner said. Not even the beloved children of whom she was so proud and whose dignity marked the day. There were some absentees - no Princess Alice, who is infirm, no Princess Eugenie and her sister Princess Beatrice, considered too young, and no Sir Angus Ogilvy, who is fighting cancer.

At the reception, she insisted on sticking to water instead of her customary vodka but confided in one close friend that she would ‘need the real thing later’.

Among the crowds was 13-year old Rachel Auster from Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, who squealed with delight as she shook William’s hand. Conspiracy theorist goes into shocking rant against masks on flight, White woman screaming 'White Lives Matter' over BLM flag gets hosed, Gunshots fired in residential property in Birmingham, China's Loch Ness Monster? This Bank Holiday has been a reminder that, despite our abysmal railways, our patchy health service and devious politicians, the vast majority of us feel proud of our heritage, our history, our families and our people. Sir Angus's daughter Marina, something of a rebel herself, was there.

No comments have so far been submitted. When her car glided up Sarah executed a perfect curstsy and David bowed his head. As the coffin, draped in the Princess's own standard, passed him he put on his glasses. Yesterday, it was the turn of William and Harry, both now towering over their father, to help him through his grief. Welcome to the winner’s enclosure.’.

Fifty years of duty: The Queen waves to the crowds as she travels in the golden coach she used for her Coronation and Silver Jubilee to St Paul's for a service of thanksgiving.

So often we fear that the community spirit no longer exists, that we all lead selfish, separate lives and we’re only out for ourselves. This was a woman whose lifestyle was sometimes a byword for excess. All her magnificent achievements were suddenly dwarfed by the unique pain of outliving a child. Six pallbearers carried it past spring daffodils to the modest church, where the Queen Mother worshipped as a young Duchess of York and continued to pray for the seven decades that followed.

The tender tribute at their wedding reception typified a day which saw the former Mrs Parker Bowles’s place in the heart of the Windsor dynasty confirmed — by a kiss on the cheek from the Queen. It was chosen by Margaret's daughter and surely there could be no better musical metaphor for her mother's life. The roar of jets heading for Heathrow blasted away the Queen's words as she whispered to her niece. Imperious and haughty to some, loyal and kind to others. Happy 80th birthday, Ma'am: A radiantly happy Queen reads some of the congratulations sent to Buckingham Palace. Sarah and David climbed into their mother's old maroon Rolls Royce and followed the Queen back to the castle for tea. The Earl of Lichfield - an old Mustique friend - kissed the cheeks of friends. It was a day when the solemnities and traditions of royal life were put to one side to celebrate 'Margo', the free spirit of the Queen's family. As the coffin, draped in the Princess’s standard, passed him he put on his glasses.

Out into the sunshine and there was the Queen moving across to her niece. The Queen, who so often exercises ridged control, wipes away a tear at the funeral of her glamorous younger sister Margaret, Pain could be seen etched on the face of the Queen Mother as she was driven away from St George's Chapel, Windsor, after the service. It was all done in a mood of celebration because, for the first time in years, people felt that they could display flags with pride and without any danger of accusations of being xenophobic, provocative or anti anybody. On Wednesday, she will overtook the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. Normally, Charles, as heir to the throne, and William, as heir apparent, travel separately in case of mishap.

There were strings of Union Jacks festooned across suburban streets, flags fluttering on poles in front gardens and from lamp posts.