Royal wedding: My analysis so far

Since the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton four months ago, I have been paying close attention to the royal wedding preparations. As part of this, I have written several analysis pieces on issues surrounding the event.

In January, when it was 100 days to go to the wedding (it seems a long time ago already) I reflected on what we did and didn't know about Prince William and Kate Middleton's plans for 29 April - my prediction that her dress will be white still stands.

When, later in that month, newspapers were reporting Kate had quit her job at her parents' very lucrative mail order business, I looked at what work senior royals can and can't do in the modern agewhen their every move is scrutinised.

Countless plans, in the past, for a Windsor to go down a coal mine or become an ambassador have never seen the light of day.

Prince William and his new wife will head to Canada in June on their first official trip abroad

When rumours started circulating about William and Kate's first overseas tour I correctly predicted their destination would be Canada and I examined what such royal visits achieved.

The news that Kate Middleton was being helped on her path to being a royal by a former ambassador to the US who advised Tony Blair during the Iraq war, gave me the chance to look at those who work for the couple They include an ex-SAS officer who once discussed with the late Queen Mother the best way of judging distance when flicking peas with a fork.

Kate Middleton undertook her first very public engagement in February, with Prince William by her side. At the time, I wrote about how William wanted to learn the lessons of the recent painful past and not do to his fiancée what had been inflicted on his mother, Diana.

Last month it was announced William and Kate wanted people to donate to charity rather than giving presents. It was an altruistic act which should prevent them from being the recipients of the sort of odd gifts which have been sent to the prince's relatives in the past.