當
地 時間16日下午﹐一位28歲深褐色頭發女子身穿寶藍色禮服﹐佩戴鑲有鑽石的藍寶石訂婚戒指﹐與剛成為未婚夫的大學時期男友一起﹐在媒體面前亮相。這條裙子 由知名品牌Issa設計﹐鑽戒是已故戴安娜王妃（Princess Diana）戴過的﹐如果她還在世的話就是這位新娘的婆婆了。
Associated Press
英國威廉王子（Prince William）與女友凱特•米德爾頓
現場氣氛很輕鬆。
當 英國威廉王子（Prince William）宣佈與交往已久的女友凱特•米德爾頓（Kate Middleton）訂婚﹐二人就輕而易舉地成為媒體的焦點﹐因為他們的戀情一直是熱門話題。他們已經交往八年﹐期間受到嚴格審查﹐因為未來他們有可能成 為大不列顛及北愛爾蘭王國──還有其他15個英聯邦王國──的國王和王後。
威廉王子和米德爾頓曾被拍到一起滑雪﹐還被拍到在凌晨時分在夜店出沒。英國小報給米德爾頓起了個綽號叫“待嫁的凱特”（Waity Katie）﹐因為她等了很長時間才得到威廉王子的求婚。幾年前的短暫分手引起極大轟動﹐就像是丘吉爾戰時密室的重要秘密一樣被人津津樂道。
當 地時間16日晚﹐28歲的威廉王子在接受英國廣播公司（British Broadcasting Corporation）全國電視採訪時平靜的解釋道﹐當時我們都很年輕﹐我們在慢慢長大。二人約定攜手步入婚姻殿堂﹐就意味著他們願意成為英國特色壯觀 儀式的主角：一場以華麗裝飾、教堂鐘聲和馬車隊巡禮為標志的皇室婚禮。
從現在到婚禮舉 行期間﹐這個消息一定會成為英國最受關注的“肥皂劇”﹐婚禮將於明年春天或夏天舉行。大家如此關注還有一層原因﹐即威廉王子是查爾斯王子（Prince Charles）和已故戴安娜王妃的長子﹐20世紀80年代初﹐戴安娜王妃的婚禮公之於眾時便一舉成名。她成為了大家最熟知的面孔之一﹐1997年在巴黎 死於車禍﹐當時遭到狗仔隊的跟蹤。
如果威廉王子及其未婚妻16日的首次亮相能表明什麼的話﹐那就是他們已經對聚光燈習以為常。威廉王子爆料說﹐他將母親的訂婚戒指裝在背包里放了三個星期左右﹐最近在前往肯尼亞的途中才向米德爾頓求婚。他承認一直緊緊地看著背包﹐因為丟了就意味著他將會“陷入很大的麻煩”。
英國正在艱難地從全球金融危機中恢復﹐為減少赤字大幅削減預算﹐正面臨緊衣縮食的時期﹐首相卡梅倫（David Cameron）抓住這個婚訊的機會說﹐明年的婚禮將是“全國大舉慶祝的好機會”。他說﹐他曾在查爾斯王子和戴安娜王妃舉行婚禮前在街上宿營﹐那無疑是上個世紀最引人矚目的婚禮。
但負面評論不久也紛紛出現﹐報紙專欄作家和Twitter用戶立刻注意到﹐這樣一個婚禮將會轉移公眾對英國面臨的嚴重經濟問題的注意力。
一位Twitter用戶寫道﹐撒切爾花了三年時間利用皇家婚禮將英國從經濟問題中解脫出來﹐他指的是1981年查爾斯王子和戴安娜王妃在嚴重經濟衰退時舉行的婚禮﹐當時撒切爾（Margaret Thatcher）是英國首相。
另外一個人很快補充寫道：你們盡可以把我稱作一個懷疑論者﹐但其他人難道不覺得每次只要發生經濟衰退﹐他們就會整一個皇家婚禮出來嗎？
有 些人說﹐一個盛大的皇家婚禮可以提升英國的士氣。曾為戴安娜王妃設計婚紗禮服的時裝設計師伊曼紐爾(Elizabeth Emanuel)說﹐是該調節一下人們的情緒了﹐英國人過去一段時間以來總感覺忐忑不安﹐昏暗無光﹐我認為皇室婚禮是每個人都可以盼望的一件事﹐大家都希 望看到一場美妙絕倫的婚禮﹐也只有英國才可以舉辦一場如此規模的婚禮。
英國週刊《旁觀者》(Spectator)的編輯納爾遜(Fraser Nelson)在郵件里說﹐我們的君主制有一種神奇的魅力﹐這也正是威廉王子和其女友米德爾頓如今承諾所要保護的﹐他們訂婚對女王和整個國家來說都是很棒的消息﹐老天作證﹐我們需要這樣的消息。
威廉王子與女友是在蘇格蘭東海岸風景如畫的聖安德魯斯大學(University of St. Andrews)上學時認識的。據說威廉王子最初是在一場有關慈善的時尚活動中注意到米德爾頓的﹐當時她正在T形台上走秀﹐身穿一襲黑色禮服。
威廉王子在週二的電視採訪中說﹐他們有一年多時間都以朋友關係相處﹐然後在這個基礎上“水到渠成”。米德爾頓說﹐她當時對於要和威廉王子的父親查爾斯王子首次見面一事感到十分緊張﹐但見到本人後她發現﹐查爾斯王子十分熱情﹐並且非常友好。
大學畢業後﹐倆人來到倫敦﹐其戀情的曝光最初是因為他們豐富的夜生活﹐他們經常被拍到從夜店中步履踉蹌地走出來﹐然後爬進早已等待在那裡的汽車。當米德爾頓和威廉王子年齡漸長、或許更加注意本人形象後﹐那些狗仔隊搶拍的二人照片就不再在小報上出現了。
與王妃戴安娜不同﹐米德爾頓並非出身貴族。其母親過去是一名空姐﹐而米德爾頓的家庭目前經營著一家名為Party Pieces的小型企業﹐專門銷售飾品、遊戲等其它聚會用品。
英國媒體有時會嘲笑米德爾頓出身低微﹐不過這種低微完全是相對威廉王子而言的。米德爾頓的一家住在一所寬敞又舒適的房子裡﹐其兄弟姐妹上的都是私立學校。
米德爾頓在電視採訪中說﹐她為未能與戴安娜王妃相識而感到遺憾﹐並稱戴安娜是一個令人仰慕的、給人以力量的女子。
儘管帶著戴安娜的戒指﹐米德爾頓仍可以自由地做她自己。威廉王子說﹐沒有人試圖取代我母親的位置。
倫 敦市民對於威廉王子即將大婚感覺十分興奮。今年27歲的護理專業學生希萬(Tessa Shewan)說﹐舉辦皇家慶典一般是皆大歡喜的一個事。接受本報記者採訪時﹐希萬正坐在倫敦聖保羅大教堂(St. Paul's Cathedral)的台階上讀書。戴安娜王妃和查爾斯王子當時就是在這個大教堂舉辦的婚禮。
來自倫敦、從事活動統籌安排工作的亞歷山大(Claire Alexander)說﹐英國可能會從皇室婚禮帶來的樂觀氣氛中受益﹐大家都喜歡有點隆重的儀式。亞歷山大接受採訪時﹐她正站在街上看一份登有威廉王子及其女友專題文章的倫敦晚報。
週 二﹐人們對於這場婚禮的舉辦場所、可能邀請哪些賓客以及受到極度關注的婚紗款式等問題都已展開了全方位的猜測。有人猜測婚禮將選在威斯敏斯特大教堂 (Westminster Abbey)舉行﹐對此該教堂發言人說﹐我們並不知道婚禮將在何地舉行﹐我們跟其他人一樣也在等待消息。威斯敏斯特大教堂建於13世紀﹐曾舉行過無數的加 冕儀式和皇家婚禮。
Jeanne Whalen / Paul Sonne
To Do: Propose To Girlfriend, Marry, Become King
On Tuesday afternoon, a 28-year-old brunette stood before a wall of photographers here with her old college boyfriend and newly minted fiance, wearing a royal blue dress and a matching sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring. The dress was from designer Issa; the ring once belonged to the late Princess Diana, who would have been the bride's mother-in-law.
No pressure there.
As Britain's Prince William announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton, the couple stepped into the spotlight with the ease of media-romance veterans. They have already spent an eight-year courtship under the harsh scrutiny that comes with the possibility of one day being the King and Queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- not to mention fifteen other Commonwealth realms.
The couple have been photographed on ski slopes and coming and going from nightclubs in the wee hours. Ms. Middleton was branded 'Waity Katie' by British tabloids in honor of her long wait for the prince to pop the question. A brief breakup a few years ago has been combed over like a key episode in Churchill's war rooms.
'We were both very young,' Prince William, 28, explained calmly in a nationally televised interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday night. 'We were growing up.' By agreeing to take each other in holy matrimony, the couple has volunteered to be the lead players in one of Britain's signature spectacles: a royal wedding with all the trimmings, chiming church bells and horse-drawn carriages.
The news launched what will certainly be the U.K.'s most closely watched soap opera between now and the wedding itself, to be held in the spring or summer. The drama is enhanced by the fact that Prince William is the first-born son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, who shot to fame in the early 1980s when her own engagement was sprung on the world. She became one of the world's most familiar faces and then died in a 1997 car crash in Paris, with paparazzi giving chase.
If the couple's debut on Tuesday was any indication, they are accustomed to the spotlight; Prince William dropped the bombshell that he had been carrying his mother's engagement ring around 'in my rucksack for about three weeks' before proposing to Ms. Middleton on a trip to Kenya recently. He allowed that he held the pack tightly because losing it would mean he'd 'be in a lot of trouble.'
With Britain struggling to emerge from the global financial crisis, and facing steep deficit-reducing budget cuts that signal an age of austerity, Prime Minister David Cameron seized on the news to say that next year's wedding was 'a great moment for national celebration.' He said he had camped in the streets before Charles and Diana's marriage, an over-the-top contender for wedding of the last century.
But it didn't take long for sniping to start either, as newspaper columnists and Twitter wags quickly noted that such a wedding could divert attention from the brutal economic problems facing Britain.
'Blimey, it took Thatcher three years to need a royal wedding to distract the UK from its woes,' wrote one Twitterer, referring to the marriage of Charles and Diana during a tough recession in 1981, when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
Another quickly added: 'Call me a cynic, but does it seem to anyone else that they roll out a royal wedding every time there's a recession??'
Some said a colorful wedding could lift the nation's spirits. 'It's time for a change of mood. There's been a lot of shakiness and darkness. I think it's something everyone can look forward to,' said Elizabeth Emanuel, a fashion designer who made Princess Diana's iconic wedding dress. 'Everybody wants to see a fabulous wedding, and nobody can really do it like the British.'
'There is magic in our monarchy, and this is what William and Kate have today undertaken to protect,' Fraser Nelson, editor of the weekly British magazine the Spectator, said by email. 'It's great news for the Queen and the country. And God knows, we need some.'
The couple met as young students at University of St. Andrews, a picturesque institution on the eastern shore of Scotland. William is said to have first spotted Ms. Middleton on the runway at a charity fashion event, where she modeled a sheer black dress.
In their televised interview Tuesday, William said the pair were friends for over a year before things 'blossomed from there.' Kate said she was 'quite nervous' about meeting William's father, Prince Charles, for the first time, but that she found him 'very welcoming and very friendly.'
After graduating and moving to London, the pair initially became known for boisterous nights out, and they were often photographed stumbling out of nightclubs to a waiting driver. Those tabloid snapshots have stopped appearing as often as Kate and William have grown older, and perhaps more cautious about their image.
Unlike Diana, Ms. Middleton is not an aristocrat: Her mother used to be a flight attendant, and her family runs a small business called Party Pieces, which sells glitter, pinatas and other party paraphernalia.
The British media sometimes mock her lower social standing, although it's entirely relative. Her family lives in a large, comfortable home, and she and her siblings went to private schools.
In the televised interview, Ms. Middleton said she was sorry to have never met Princess Diana, calling her 'an inspirational woman to look up to.'
But despite wearing Diana's ring, Kate will be free to carve her own future, William said: 'No one's trying to fill my mother's shoes.'
Londoners were excited about the coming nuptials. 'People generally enjoy having a royal celebration of some sort,' said Tessa Shewan, a 27-year-old nursing student, who sat reading on the steps of London's St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married.
Claire Alexander, an events coordinator from London, said Britain could benefit from the positive atmosphere a royal wedding would bring. 'Everyone loves a bit of pomp and circumstance,' Ms. Alexander said, as she stood on the street reading a copy of a London evening tabloid featuring the couple.
Speculation about the wedding locale, the potential invitees and the all-important dress was already in full swing Tuesday. Responding to speculation that the couple would choose Westminster Abbey, the 13th-century church that has hosted countless coronations and royal weddings, a spokeswoman for the Abbey said: 'We don't know. We're waiting to hear like everyone else.'
Jeanne Whalen / Paul Sonne
