“Prince William has chosen to wear the uniform of Colonel of the Irish Guards on his Wedding Day.  Prince William, who is commissioned in all three Armed Services, and who has served actively with the Army (The Household Cavalry Regiment) and with the Royal Air Force (Search and Rescue Force), chose to wear the uniform of his senior honorary appointment in the Army.”

“Prince William will wear an Irish Guards Mounted Officer’s uniform in Guard of Honour Order with a Forage Cap. The Prince will wear a gold and crimson sash, and gold sword slings, both of which are worn in the presence of a Member of the Royal Family.  The Prince will not wear a sword. The Prince will wear the Garter Sash with the Wings of the Royal Air Force, the Garter Star, and the Golden Jubilee Medal.”

The statement continued, “The tunic, in Guards’ Red, features the Irish Guards’ distinctive arrangement of buttons in groups of four.  The buttons feature the Harp of Ireland surmounted by the Crown Imperial.  The arrangement of buttons on the uniform denotes the Irish Guards’ position in the Order of Battle as the Fourth Regiment of Foot Guards.”

“The Insignia of the Irish Guards on the Forage Cap is the eight-pointed Star of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick and features the Regiment’s motto ‘Quis Separabit?’ (‘Who shall separate us?’).“

Although Prince William wore his uniform with pride, it wasn’t what he wanted. In fact, Queen Elizabeth II denied him his primary wish.

Queen Elizabeth II denied William his uniform wish

In the BBC documentary Royal Wedding: A Day to Remember, royal expert Nikkhah said that Prince William hoped to wear his Household Cavalry military uniform. But Queen Elizabeth had another idea in mind.

“The military is everything to William and to Harry. The Queen said, ‘No, you’re wearing your Irish Guards. You are the new Colonel of the Irish Guards.’ That’s the one thing he didn’t get his way on, and he deferred to Granny,” Nikkhah said.

In his book Spare, Prince Harry also wrote that his brother was denied to wear his Household Cavalry military uniform.

“He’d asked Granny if he could wear his Household Cavalry kit and she’d turned him down. As the Heir, he must wear the Number One Ceremonial, she decreed,” Harry wrote.

“Willy was glum at having so little say in what he wore to get married, at having his autonomy taken from him on such an occasion. He’d told me several times that he felt frustrated.”

“I assured him that he looked bloody smart in the Harp of Ireland, with the Crown Imperial and the forage cap with the regimental motto: ‘Quis Separabit? Who shall separate us?’ It didn’t seem to make an impression.”

It’s no secret that Prince William wanted to wear another uniform. The future king previously told journalist Robert Hardman for the Daily Mail that he “wanted to decide what to wear for the wedding,” but that he “knew perfectly well that it was for the best.”

“You just do as you’re told!” Prince William reportedly said.

Prince William was ‘unhappy’ with wedding guest list

Queen Elizabeth II may have declined William’s wish for his uniform. But it was a different story when her grandson and the future king showed concern for the guest list.

As one can imagine, the guest list for that type of royal wedding was quite special. It included a great mix of celebrities, including Sir Elton John, David Beckham, and Rowan Atkinson, politicians, dignitaries, friends of William and Kate from their university days, and even the landlord from The Old Boot Inn, the Middleton family’s local pub in their hometown.

But while many of their closest friends and family attended, something wasn’t quite right. Speaking on the BBC documentary, Roya Nikkhah explained that William was angry about the guest list because there were so many people that he didn’t know.

“When the guest list was drawn up [William] was very bemused and had a conversation with the Queen to say ‘I don’t know any of these people’. He wasn’t very happy about it. The Queen just said to him, rip that list up and start where you want to start from and invite who you want – and that’s what they did,” Nikkhah explained.

John Haley, the landlord of The Old Boot Inn, said, “It was great that Kate and William were allowed to invite all their own friends. Friends from the village, from uni, friends that she grew up with. She invited me, I’ve known her 15 years or so. It was fabulous.”

Prince William & Kate Middleton “brought the house down” with wedding reception surprise

Of course, the wedding was a big success, and royal fans worldwide celebrated the newlyweds. Meanwhile, the many guests received quite a surprise at the post-nuptial reception. 

“They stood holding hands in the middle of the dance floor, grinning,” Robert Jobson writes in his book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales: The Biography.

“Then, suddenly, the opening bars of the song, You’re the One That I Want from the musical Grease came booming out. William and Catherine then began dancing around, pointing at each other, and mouthing the words with the style of the lead characters Danny and Sandy. It brought the house down.”

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