Awwal 25, 1432 / April 29, 2011, SPA -- The parks and streets of London became a sea of blue, white and red bunting on Friday as hundreds of thousands of well-wishers celebrated the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton by waving flags and singing the national anthem, according to dpa. After weeks of preparations, Britons - and hundreds of thousands of foreigners - got into party mode, defying republicans and other commentators who had said the steep drop in the number of street parties registered, compared to those held to celebrate the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981, signified a lack of interest in the royals. Around Westminster Abbey, where the wedding ceremony took place, and two kilometres away outside Buckingham Palace, where the Queen received around 600 guests for a reception afterwards, the streets were thronged with people. Some were wrapped in Union Jack flags, others sported paper crowns and tiaras, one man was even wearing a suit of armour. Despite weather forecasts predicting heavy showers later in the day, the sun broke through overcast skies as Kate and William left the abbey and continued to shine into the late afternoon. Police and crowd control officers also praised the well wishers. "The crowd has been tremendous, the mood fantastic," a spokesman for Scotland Yard, London police headquarters said. "People have been coming forward to help police officers."
