They may have asked wellwishers to donate to charity rather than give them wedding presents, but Prince William and Kate Middleton have now drawn up a private wedding list for close friends and family to help furnish their Anglesey cottage.
The pair were praised when they launched a benevolent scheme asking for donations to 26 charities, many of them little known.
However, on second thoughts they have decided they could also do with some help setting up home, both in north Wales and at their likely apartment in Kensington Palace.
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The expected wave of unsolicited gifts for the wedding on April 29 has already been divided into different categories. For the sake of protocol, gifts from foreign dignitaries will be accepted. If worth more than £250, they will be registered and then kept, archived or given to charity.
Anything from a commercial organisation will be returned. Any charity or individual who offers a gift they may not easily have been able to afford will be asked politely if they would like to reconsider.
Details of the charities set to receive donations have been released on the official wedding website, but the personal list will be kept private and the public will not be given an insight into the royal couple’s taste in toasters, cutlery and bed linen.
Those familiar with Kate’s style say that she is likely to pick traditional goods in neutral colours and simple designs. In January, she and her mother, Carole, were seen shopping for kitchenware in Peter Jones, the royal warrant-holding Sloane Square department store in west London owned by the John Lewis Partnership.
Kate is also said to be fond of the muted tones of the homeware, including bedclothes, on offer at Jigsaw, the high street clothing chain where she worked as an accessories buyer after university.
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The couple’s main home will be at the Anglesey cottage, near William’s RAF base, from which he flies in search and rescue helicopters.
Some of the furnishings will also be used in a flat they will have at their disposal while in London. One option is Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived during and after her marriage to the Prince of Wales.
A royal source said: “When Prince Charles and Diana got married they received more than 6,000 gifts from the public. Kate and William set up the charity list so that the goodwill of the public could be put to good use.
“But they’re also furnishing two homes. So certain guests will be told about the existence of the list. It looks like any other wedding list you’d see for any normal wedding, full of everyday items for the home.
“It’s not placed with a particular shop, but it has items from different places and it will be kept with the royal household.
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“There is nothing particularly extravagant on it — no gold taps — just regular things to help them fill the sparsely decorated cottage in Anglesey.”
In the wedding receptions, William’s friends will play a key role. Prince Harry will share the burden of the best man’s speech with William’s best friend, Thomas van Straubenzee.
The 26 charities chosen by the couple include ones supporting the armed forces, children, the elderly, art, sport and the environment. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia are also on the list of beneficiaries.
The couple’s approach to the wedding list contrasts with that of William’s parents in 1981. Diana drew up a gift list with the General Trading Company, declaring: “We’ve got two houses to fill.” Their gifts included a £500,000 jewel-encrusted model of an Arab dhow from the Emir of Bahrain. It was later sold to a West End jeweller.
For his second marriage, to the Duchess of Cornwall in 2005, Charles again made use of the General Trading Company.
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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh received more than 2,500 gifts from around the world when they married in 1947. The haul included a racehorse, 131 pairs of nylon stockings — in short supply because of rationing — and 500 tins of pineapple.
The Queen will bestow a new title on Prince William just before his wedding. It is not yet known what this will be but he is likely to become a duke.
Flexitime royal
Prince William has told courtiers he will be a “flexitime” royal after his wedding — fitting his official engagements around duties as a full-time search and rescue pilot, writes Kate Mansey.
It means his official duties have to be squeezed in around blocks of shifts at RAF Valley so that he can make up for any hours missed.
If William completes the next 30 months of service in Anglesey as expected, free time with his bride will be strictly rationed. When he does have time off, Kate will join him on official engagements.
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Officials were able to arrange last month’s whistle-stop tour of Australia and New Zealand at short notice by organising the trip around his work rota.
William will even take the time needed for the couple’s two-week honeymoon as part of his 28 days’ annual leave.
William works 24-hour shifts in a block pattern at Valley. While on duty he sleeps on the base, then spends the next 24 hours on call. The combined 48-hour stint is counted as one block and pilots complete seven or eight a month.
A palace spokesman said: “Prince William undertakes his official duties mainly during rest and recuperation periods between shifts, or occasionally during leave. His priority remains his job in the RAF.”