The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge may be royals, but like most weddings, even theirs didn't go according to plan. Yes, there were several beautiful moments like their first kiss, their heartfelt vows, and Kate's (long) walk down the aisle, but there were also a few surprises. From a sleep-deprived prince to a runaway horse and a "wiggly" wedding crasher, it's almost hard to believe that all of these things happened at just one wedding. Hopefully Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have learned from Will and Kate's mishaps and taken preventive measures to avoid this from happening at their own ceremony in May.
Royal editor Duncan Larcombe attended William and Kate's wedding in 2011, and according to him, the prince "looked absolutely terrified." "Before Kate arrived, William went to compose himself with Harry in a room just off Poet's Corner (an area in Westminster Abbey)," Duncan previously told Elle UK. "We were sat near there, so they both walked straight past us and William looked absolutely terrified. They came out afterwards and gave a deep breath."
William only got 30 minutes of sleep the night before his wedding. "[The crowds] were singing and cheering all night long, so the excitement of that, the nervousness of me and everyone singing — I slept for about half an hour," the royal revealed in a 2012 documentary. "The hardest thing was trying to walk down the stairs with my spurs on, sideways. I had visions of myself and my brother [Prince Harry] colliding and crashing down the stairs."
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3The Ring
During the ceremony, William noticeably struggled to fit Kate's ring on her finger, and that's because Kate actually got it resized before the wedding. According to The Independent, the duchess made it a size smaller to keep it from falling off. "The band was turning. Kate absolutely adores it and didn't want to cause a fuss," a source told the publication. "A bride's worst nightmare is looking down and seeing her ring has fallen off. One can only imagine how this is magnified when you are marrying the future King of England."
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4The Runaway Horse
During the wedding procession, one of the horses threw its rider off and went rogue. Thankfully, one of the guardsmen was able to take the reins and pull it to the side as William and Kate's carriage went by. However, the horse eventually broke free again and galloped past the royal carriage into the Horse Guards building.
"The horse got upset by the crowds, his head went up and he jolted the rider off," an onlooker told The Telegraph. "Another rider grabbed the horse by the reins and he was telling the guy who had fallen off to come to the side and remount but it was difficult for him to control. The horse was trying to follow all the others, but the soldier was trying to herd it to the side of the barrier and it was so strong."
After the ceremony, William and Kate drove off into the sunset in his father's Aston Martin. Sounds lovely, right? Well, there was just one problem: William forgot to release the handbrake. Oh, William.
While Kate and William's kiss at Buckingham Palace was beautiful and all, the couple was adorably upstaged by then-3-year-old bridesmaid Grace van Cutsem. Grace had the most priceless reaction on the balcony as she covered her ears to block out the sound of the cheering crowd.
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7The Wedding Crasher
Image Source: Getty / WPA Pool
If you look closely at William and Kate's official wedding portraits, you'll see that a wiggly red worm toy made a special appearance. So, how did that mysterious worm make it into the photographs? Well, it turns out that Harry gave it to then-3-year-old bridesmaid Eliza Lopes to keep her from throwing a tantrum.
"Harry pulled this wiggly worm out of his pocket in the carriage to keep them amused," Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall told the Daily Mail in May 2011. "Eliza loved it so much that she wouldn't let go and it even made the official photographs. Can you believe it? She was holding onto my finger, but in her other hand was the worm."
