Queen Elizabeth gives official ‘consent’ to William, Kate marriage

BY MIRIAM DI NUNZIO

With the stroke of a pen and 43 words, Queen Elizabeth upheld her role as British sovereign and held fast to a centuries-old Windsor tradition officially granting permission for Prince William to marry his bonny Kate Middleton.









The formal “Instrument of Consent, as decreed by the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, is required for all descendants of King George II who wish to wed. (Under the same law, Prince William was also required to formally ask his grandmother’s permission to marry.) The consent document was officially signed on Feb. 9 but released to the public on April 21 (the occasion of the Queen’s 85th birthday). Without the document, the marriage would be invalid.

The “Consent” reads:

“Now Know Ye that We have consented and do by these Presents signify Our Consent to the contracting of Matrimony between our Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, K.G., and Our Trusty and Well-beloved Catherine Elizabeth Middleton.”

The ornate document bears the queen’s single-name signature, and is festooned with artwork that represents the lives of the bride and groom including:

— a gold cipher of their initials below the prince’s official coronet;

— a white lily representing St. Catherine of Sienna (her feast day is April 29 and Kate shares her first name);

— a Welsh leek encircled by the prince’s official “label” (a symbol/seal depicting three prongs, signifying him as second in line to the British throne;

— a red sea-shell from the Spencer family coat of arms (in honor of the late Princess Diana);

— a red dragon, the official symbol of the house of Wales; the United Kingdom’s official flower emblems: a rose, thistle and shamrock; the prince’s blue and gold Order of the Garter belt; and a large gold “E” for Elizabeth.

The couple will receive the document after the wedding ceremony.