A new twist on the Kate and William marriage question

For years it's been a question of will Kate and William marry; now it's a question of will they show up to Peter Phillips' wedding to Autumn Kelly. As with all things royal it's been a case of more rumor than fact.

First the answer was a definite yes. William was said to have been asked by Peter, with whom he's always been close, to be his best man or one of the ushers. And Kate was expected to be on William's arm as a guest. Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy, however, was reportedly left uninvited having been separated from Harry at the time the invitations were sent out in November.

Next Chelsy was reported to have been invited and was said to be sprucing herself up for her first meeting with the Queen. Not just a big day for Peter and Autumn then?

Then suddenly William and Kate were out of the wedding. Some reasoned that Kate didn't want to risk stealing the limelight from Autumn on her day (as though anyone could ever outshine the bride). Others said that William and Kate had decided to run off to Mustique for a long private holiday. Some suggested that Peter and William had a falling out after William had his pants pulled down during Peter's bachelor party resulting in a picture of his princely bum sent round the world the next day. Finally a few weighed in saying that William was so annoyed that Peter and Autumn had given Hello! Magazine an interview and agreed to give the magazine exclusive access to the wedding itself to the hefty sum of £500,000 that he pulled out of the wedding.

Now the latest and surely strangest twist to this ever growing story says that Prince William will not be attending his cousin's wedding because he'd made a prior agreement to be a guest-of-honour at the wedding of his friend Batian Craig (brother of William's ex-girlfriend Jecca) in Kenya. Even more amazingly it's said that Kate will go on to Peter and Autumn's wedding (the one she was said to want to avoid stealing the limelight of--too late) as Prince William's " representative".

If Peter and Autumn's decision to give Hello! access to their wedding 'raised a few eyebrows' among courtiers and the Royal Family I can only imagine what William skipping an important family event to go to a friend's wedding while sending his guest to stand in his place instead will do. Said one source, "Choosing the family of his ex-girlfriend ahead of everyone else makes it even more bizarre. Wills is very close to the Craigs, but this will inevitably question his priorities."

Another courtier tried to do some damage control saying; "Prince William is going to be out of the country this weekend on a long standing prior engagement. It's an unfortunate clash but he spoke to his cousin Peter and he is fine with the situation. His girlfriend will be going in his absence.

"It was a difficult decision as Peter and William are very close but the two talked it through. William felt he had to go to Kenya because the Craigs asked him first and it was the fairest thing to do. That's why William was so keen to go to Peter's stag party last month.

"It's a classic royal manoeuvre and just what William's mother Diana used to do with Prince Charles. Her presence without William shows just how importantly she is regarded."

Ah, but Charles and Diana were a married when they took to representing each other at functions. Lauded as the future Mrs Prince William or not Kate doesn't have that ring yet. Also, call me old fashioned but should a Prince really be sending his girlfriend to represent him at a Royal Family function? Or any function for that matter? I don't doubt that Kate Middleton is an important person in his life, but he shouldn't think that the Queen feels quite the same way when it comes to Kate representing her grandson at one of her own family gatherings. And what of Kate herself? One has the feeling that she'd turn up to the opening of an envelope so long as it had a VIP room and plenty of Aristocrats. But isn't going to your boyfriend's cousin's wedding sans boyfriend just a little awkward?

Some welcome to the Royal Family, huh, Autumn? But like Princess Grace said to a newly engaged Lady Diana, "Don't worry, it'll get worse!"

And only one more sleep to go until Saturday's wedding. With any luck Prince William will be in attendance and put all these rumours to shame. Because if any of them are true that is precisely what it would be. A shame.

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