The Year That Was: Famous Royal Weddings of 2011 [PHOTOS]

As we reflect back on the year 2011, glimpses of some of the most famous royal weddings ought to sweep across our memories. From Britain’s royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton that appeared to herald the season of royal weddings to Bhutan’s royal wedding of the “Will and Kate” of the Himalayan kingdom, here are the top pictures of royal weddings that happened in 2011:

1. UK Royal Wedding: Prince William

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, walk up the aisle after their wedding ceremony in Westminster Abbey, in central London on April 29. Photo: REUTERS

Prince William and Kate Middleton inaugurated the year of royal weddings as they walked the aisle to be pronounced husband and wife at London’s Westminster Abbey on April 29. The royal couple turned their courtship of nearly a decade into marriage, bringing cheer across the world. The ceremony was watched online by 72 million viewers, earning the title for "Most Live Streams for a Single Event" from Guinness World Records.

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2. Monaco Royal Wedding

Prince Albert II of Monaco reaches out for Princess Charlene's hand during their wedding ceremony at the Palace in Monaco on July 2. Photo: REUTERS/Bruno Bebert/Pool

Britain’s royal wedding was followed by the wedding of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene on July 2. Princess Grace’s son, Prince Albert II, married Princess Charlene, a former Olympic Games swimmer for South Africa, in a lavish ceremony at the Palace in Monaco.

3. UK Royal Wedding: Zara Phillips

Britain's Zara Phillips, the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, poses for a photograph with her husband, England rugby captain Mike Tindall, after their marriage at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland July 3. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Britain's Zara Phillips, the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, married England rugby captain Mike Tindall at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 30.

4. German Royal Wedding

Prince Georg Frederich of Prussia and Princess Sophie von Isenburg pose after their wedding ceremony in Potsdam, Germany, on Aug. 27. Photo: REUTERS

Prince Georg Frederich of Prussia and Princess Sophie von Isenburg got married at the Church of Peace on the grounds of Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, on Aug. 27. The 35-year-old head of the House of Hohenzollern and great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II married Princess Sophie, 33, in a civil ceremony.

5. Bhutanese Royal Wedding

Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck kisses Queen Jetsun Pema in front of thousands of well-wishers gathered for the third day of their wedding ceremony at the Changlimithang stadium in Bhutan's capital of Thimphu on Oct. 15. Photo: REUTERS

Bhutan's fifth “Dragon King,” Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, married his longtime girlfriend, Jetsun Pema, in Bhutan's ancient capital of Punakha on Oct. 13. Wangchuck, often called "Prince Charming" because of his Elvis Presley looks, married a commoner. The couple has been dubbed the "Will and Kate" of the Himalayan kingdom.

6. Indonesian Royal Wedding

Kanjeng Pangeran Haryo Yudanegara, center right, and his wife, Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Bendara, center left, walk to their horse-drawn carriage after their wedding in Yogyakarta on Oct. 18. Photo: REUTERS/Beawiharta Beawiharta

Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Bendara, the youngest daughter of Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, monarch of the historic Yogyakarta Sultanate in Indonesia, married Kanjeng Pangeran Haryo Yudanegara at the palace in Yogyakarta, Java, on Oct. 18.

7. Spanish Royal Wedding

Spain's Duchess of Alba Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva and her husband, Alfonso Diez, walk to the entrance of Las Duenas Palace after their wedding in Seville on Oct. 5. Photo: REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

Spain's 85-year-old Duchess of Alba, Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, married civil servant Alfonso Diez at Sevilla's Palacio de las Duenas on Oct. 5.

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Monaco royal couple shoots down 'runaway bride' rumors

Charlene Wittstock looked serene at her July 1 wedding to billionaire Prince Albert II of Monaco. But up until the day she said “I do,” she was dogged by reports she had tried to run away from her opulent nuptials.

In an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer on TODAY Wednesday, the 33-year-old former Olympian from South Africa said that she was a victim of the press’s overactive imagination in the hoopla leading up to a royal wedding.

Why would you go through all this effort to have this fantastic, you know, couple of days and have our most intimate, dearest friends come and join us for us to be reluctant?” Princess Charlene said as she sat alongside her new husband. “You know, for me, it just sounded hilarious.”

Days before the wedding, the French weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche reported Whittstock made up to three attempts to flee Monaco in advance of her wedding to Prince Albert. The paper reported she sought refuge at the South African embassy in Paris when she was being fitted for her wedding dress in May, tried to leave the country again at the Formula 1 Grand Prix race and then, just days before the wedding, was stopped from boarding a helicopter flying from Monaco to Nice, France as officials persuaded her to stay and go through with the wedding.

Princess Charlene told Lauer she understands the European media was latching onto a story of royal magnitude — even if it was imagined. “It was a wonderful opportunity for them to ride on something, you know, (a) negative spin, because people would buy the magazines or listen to all the negativity,” she said.

Prince Albert may understand the story even better — the only son of the late Prince Rainier III and the late American actress Grace Kelly, Albert had generated headlines all his adult life for his rich and varied dating life, during which he fathered two children born out of wedlock. That the lifelong bachelor was finally marrying at age 53 may have signaled an end to the press’s obsession with his personal life.

Still, Prince Albert faced even more scrutiny for allegedly looking more serious than blissful at the Catholic wedding ceremony before 800 onlookers at the royal palace in Monaco.
“It is unfair,” he said, turning to Princess Charlene. “I thought I paid attention to you and smiled at you many times.” Laughing, he added, “Maybe that’s not enough for some people.”
Now, media types are on a royal baby watch as they wonder when Prince Albert, who ascended to the throne with his father’s passing in 2005, will produce a legitimate heir. The 19-year-old daughter he fathered with a California woman and the 8-year-old son he fathered from a relationship with a flight attendant from Togo are not, per Monaco’s Princely Law, considered heirs.

With Prince Rainier in failing health in 2002 — and his only son still not married — the Monaco constitution was amended to include females in the line of succession. It means that if Prince Albert II passes before producing an heir, the throne would fall to either of his sisters, Caroline or Stephanie.
“I think there were, you know, part jealousy, part, people that were envious or did not like the fact that we were finally coming together and marrying,” Prince Albert told Lauer.

“What it means is that it can go through the other siblings in the family,” Prince Albert told Lauer. But Albert also noted that should his marriage to Whittstock produce a daughter but not a son, she would be first in line for the throne.
But for now, the royal couple seems to be reveling in their first year as a married couple. Princess Charlene joked that her training as a world-class competitive swimmer has come in handy.
“I think I kind of went into Olympic mode, really,” she said of the spotlight that shone on her nuptials. “I was in the zone, and I don’t think anything was affecting me at that time.”

Prince Albert also said he is ever mindful of his family’s American connection via his mother, the Philadelphia, Pa., native who rose to big screen stardom before retiring from acting to marry Prince Rainier in 1956. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene attended the 29th Annual Princess Grace Awards benefit in New York City on Tuesday.
He said it warms his heart at how warmly his mother, who died in a car crash in 1982 after suffering a stroke, is remembered.
“I’m still amazed at how many people not only remember her, but look up to her as a model and as an icon,” he told Lauer.

Related articles

• Monaco royal couple shoots down 'runaway bride' rumors (today.msnbc.msn.com)
• Prince Albert, Princess Charlène attend exhibit celebrating prince's mother Grace Kelly (theglobeandmail.com)
• T.S.H.s Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco Visit Nepal (royalcorrespondent.com)
• Monaco's royal couple blasts runaway bride rumors (cbsnews.com)
• T.S.H.s Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco Attend the Princess Grace Awards Gala in New York City (royalcorrespondent.com)