Newspaper review: A kiss that defined a royal day
- Published
Most of the papers are in no doubt over which image sums up the day
The balcony kiss is now firmly secured as the defining moment of a British royal wedding, if Saturday's front pages are any guide.
The photo of the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kissing on the Buckingham Palace balcony dominates the front of most papers, including the Daily Mail, external, which promises its readers 40 pages of historic pictures and reports.
It says Catherine Middleton's softly spoken "I will" inside Westminster Abbey sent cheers ringing from Whitehall to Bucklebury to Papua New Guinea.
Tracey Emin says her drawing shows "the moment everyone was waiting for"
The entire front page of the Daily Telegraph, external is taken up with the photo of the balcony kiss, and no words are allowed to distract the reader.
Inside there are more enormous pictures, and a report speaks of "a day filled with romance, pageantry and playfulness".
The Sun puts the kissing couple on its front page, joking "You wait years for a Royal kiss then two come along at once".
Grace Kelly
The wedding dress which was the subject of so much speculation before the big day is now the topic of detailed analysis.
The Sun's double-page spread is headlined "Amazingly Grace", external, in a reference to the "movie beauty" Grace Kelly. The bride "oozed class", it says, before examining her tiara, earrings and shoes.
"A timeless triumph" is the verdict of the Daily Mail on the dress, while the Telegraph calls it "exquisite" and "graceful".
The Daily Star, external calls the Duchess "The McQueen of Fashion", in reference to her choice of the British fashion house Alexander McQueen. It says "everything about Kate was perfect, from head to toe".
"One beautiful bride... One great day to be British" is how the paper sums up the day.
There is plenty of discussion of what the bride's guests were wearing, too.
The Telegraph has no headline, letting that kiss speak for itself
A "fashion spectacular" is how the Daily Express, external describes the wedding, praising the mother of the bride Carole Middleton for being "elegantly demure".
The Independent, external has its tongue in its cheek to analyse "the hits, misses, hats and horrors" on show.
It hails the Duchess of Cornwall for - "amazingly" - one of the day's best outfits, whilst giving more withering assessments of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
'Perfunctory'
The paper puts an original work by Tracey Emin on its front page. The artist says the bride and groom "looked really naive and natural, like a child's fantasy of a bride and groom".
"Sealed with a kiss - twice" is The Guardian's, external headline above its picture of the happy couple.
But it is not won over by the occasion, saying the kisses were "the most perfunctory and chaste of pecks".
It jokes that the event was "intimate" considering the huge television audience, the trumpeters, two choirs, the entire British royal family, and nearly 2,000 guests.
The Times, external chooses a different picture for its souvenir edition.
The paper comes in a wrap-around cover which shows the couple driving from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House in Prince Charles' Aston Martin, describing it as "one of many such small moments that revealed a new brand of royalty".
The Times puts Prince Charles' vintage Aston Martin on its front page
The more traditional front page also shows the couple driving in the car up The Mall.
"No royal couple in history have ever enjoyed their own wedding so visibly, or placed their personal stamp on the occasion so firmly", says the paper.
It calls the wedding "an extraordinary synthesis of ancient and modern, tradition and invention, soaring solemnity and youthful joy".
The Financial Times, external, which on Friday resisted making the wedding its main story, now leads with the headline "Royal theatre captivates the world".
It calls the day "a demonstration of Britain at its battiest - and best", and suggests the service was a touch long.
The Daily Mirror, external fills 19 pages with the fashions, the street parties and the cake.
"So Britain does believe in fairy tales after all..." it says, calling the royal romance enough to move even the most hard-hearted.
"They are a 21st century couple who respect tradition, but they will not be slaves to it.... We wish them a long and very happy union."