LONDON — Years of fevered anticipation and premature speculation ended on Tuesday morning when Prince William, the heir to the heir to the British throne, said that, yes, he does plan to marry his girlfriend of many years, Kate Middleton.
In a brief statement, William’s father, Prince Charles, said that he was “delighted” to announce the engagement of William and Miss Middleton, both 28, and that they would be married next spring or summer.
“Prince William has informed the queen and other close members of his family, ” the statement said. “Prince William has also sought the permission of Miss Middleton’s father.”
The statement added that the couple would live in North Wales, where William works as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot for the Royal Air Force. The announcement brings to an end the long and winding “will-he-or-won’t he?” saga that has provided years of diversion for royal enthusiasts and helped keep the royal-focused gossip industry afloat. It also renders obsolete Miss Middleton’s sometime tabloid nickname, “Waity Katy, ” a reference to the fact that she has supposedly been waiting around for Prince William to propose.
Interested parties can now focus on a new set of pressing issues: Who will design Kate’s wedding dress? Who will be Prince Harry’s date at the wedding? And, should Miss Middleton become queen – which would not take place until the death of both the current queen and the future king, Prince Charles — will everyone call her Queen Kate? (Her name is Catherine.) The issue of the engagement ring - how big? what stones? - has already been answered. Prince William gave Miss Middleton the sapphire and diamond ring that his father had given to his mother in 1981.
Standing at a brief press conference with his arm locked together with his fiancée’s, William said that giving Miss Middleton his mother’s ring was "my way of making sure my mother didn’t miss out on today and the excitement.”
“It’s very special to me, ” he said of the ring. “As Kate’s very special to me now, it was right to put the two together."
Miss Middleton is a different sort of royal bride from William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, whose short but celebrated life ended when she was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997. Diana was naïve and indifferently educated, but she was the daughter of an earl whose family has always mixed in royal circles. By contrast, Miss Middleton, who grew up in Bucklebury, Berkshire, is considered solidly middle class by British standards.
Her father is a former British Airways officer and her mother a former flight attendant; together, they run a successful mail-order business that sells paraphernalia for children’s parties.
By all accounts, Miss Middleton is tough and savvy, and far better equipped to deal with media attention than Diana was. Also, while Charles and Diana hardly knew each other at the time of their engagement, Miss Middleton has been virtually living with Prince William for some time and has met his father many times. The couple became engaged in October during a private holiday in Kenya, Prince Charles’s announcement said.
After an autumn of dismaying news about budget cuts and Austerity Britain, the engagement provided an all-purpose happy diversion. The BBC started providing saturation coverage of the announcement. Queen Elizabeth proclaimed herself to be “absolutely delighted.” Prime Minister David Cameron said that when he announced the news, members of his cabinet responded with a “great cheer” and “banging of the table.” The prime minister also admitted that in 1981 he slept on the street outside Buckingham Palace the night before the wedding of William’s parents.
Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party, said that he was also delighted, and that “the whole country will be wishing them every happiness.”
Prince William and Miss Middleton met at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and then shared a group house with two other students. According to news reports, the highlights of their college years together included the time that Miss Middleton persuaded a wavering William not to drop out when he was having a hard time his first year, and the time that she took part in a charity fashion show wearing her underwear.
(The university said on Tuesday that it was “Britain’s top match-making university, ” claiming that 10 percent of its students meet the person with whom they eventually settle down. It invited the couple to come visit whenever they wanted.)
The couple’s relationship has had its ups and downs. They split for several months in 2007, and there was speculation (always denied) that the royal family was dismayed by the supposedly déclassé behavior of the Middletons. Mrs. Middleton was said to have blatantly chewed gum and used unaristocratic words like “toilet” and “pardon” in front of the queen, and some of William’s friends were said to mutter, “doors to manual” when Miss Middleton came into the room, a reference to her mother’s prior career.
But Mr. and Mrs. Middleton went shooting at the queen’s estate at Balmoral recently – a weekend, that, royal watchers said, would not have taken place had an engagement not been imminent.
After the announcement, news crews converged outside London’s various royal palaces, interviewing royal experts who speculated about things like where and when the wedding would take place and what kind of charities Miss Middleton would support, when she begins to support charities. The experts did not know much, but they did their best.
Ingrid Seward, whose position as editor of Majesty Magazine (“The Quality Royal Magazine&rdquo ;) makes her a regular presence at these occasions, said, “For Majesty Magazine, this is absolutely wonderful.”
Alan Cowell contributed reporting.