William and Kate: Fairy tale continues with newlywed carriage ride ending in royal kisses

April 29, 2011 6:04 AM PT

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After a ceremony that left many breathless, newlyweds Kate Middleton and Prince William -- now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge -- proceeded out of Westminster Abbey as man and wife on Friday morning and took their fairy-tale royal wedding to the next level.

Hand-in-hand, they stood on the famed church steps to greet a roaring, adoring public waving union jacks and crying out to the modern royals, then stepped into an open carriage -- ladies second -- lead by four immaculate white horses.

Photos: Cool cars of the royal wedding

A short but jubilant ride from the Abbey ensued, with the happy pair smiling, exchanging private words and waving to the people. Their trek ended at Buckingham Palace, where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was to host a Champagne-and-appetizers lunchtime reception.

William assisted Kate in disembarking from the carriage, with their families close behind in cars and shuttles -- including maid of honor Pippa Middleton and the bride’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.

Prince Charles and wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, were accounted for, as well as William’s best man Prince Harry and their cousins Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice (daughters of an absent Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York).

Photos: Royal wedding coverage

Once the party was secure inside palace walls, bobbies on foot and horseback led a cheering crowd in its own processional from the church to the palace gates.

The lunch reception, which concludes in the early afternoon, included a ceremonial kiss -- actually, two kisses -- on the palace’s grand balcony. Charles will host an intimate evening reception later Friday.

Royal wedding: Trafalgar Square crowd in love with Prince William and Kate

Royal wedding is a big hit on Twitter (which wasn’t blocked for those at Westminster Abbey)

Interactive: Your guide to the royal wedding

-- Matt Donnelly, with Henry Chu reporting from London
twitter.com/MattDonnelly

Ministry of Gossip

Henry Chu

Henry Chu first joined the Los Angeles Times in 1990 and worked primarily out of the San Fernando Valley office before moving to the foreign staff in 1998. He served as bureau chief in Beijing from 1998 to 2003, Rio de Janeiro from 2004 to 2005, New Delhi from 2006 to 2008 and London from 2009 to 2014. He was a 2014-15 fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. From 2016-19 he was international editor at Variety magazine. A graduate of Harvard University, Chu returned to The Times in March 2020 as deputy news editor based in London. He left in 2024.