
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."