Those Titles and my family

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Picture from PA)

I really couldn't believe it when I heard the set of titles that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon her grandson on the day of his wedding. Creating him Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus was a strange parallel to my family.

Before Katherine went to St. Andrews a girl from Lurgan did likewise. She met a man from St. Salvator's in her first year but it wasn't until their second year that these two started to go out, that man's mother at one point taught in Strathearn School in Belfast.

The two young people got married in Bangor, Northern Ireland, but the reception was at the Mageramourne Hotel near Larne. The Best Man, the groom's brother, drove them away from the reception, but had to return them there for the night. He I drove them to Carrickfergus Castle car park where they got out to have a stroll to have their first quiet time together since getting married, a little like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are doing now.

Their elder child, my elder nephew completes the story, as after some time in Chester they moved to Cambridge where he was born and dedicated.

So congratulations to William and Catherine Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on this the day of their marriage. I was happy to watch their wedding with two other St. Andrews' graduands who I stood beside as they made their vows almost 16 years ago, and whose marriage I was one of the official witnesses.