On the balcony: 'just a small family affair'

"Go on, kiss!" you could almost hear the crowd cry. They had waited long enough for the balcony scene that is as intrinsic to a royal wedding as it is vital to the plot of Romeo and Juliet.

Eventually, the couple did as expected. The first kiss was tentative and all too brief. The second lasted longer and looked like they meant it.

Meanwhile the supporting cast, taking part in what Prince William had jokingly called "just a small family affair", seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. The Duke of Edinburgh appeared to be particularly taken with the bride's younger sister, Philippa. But before the crowd had had enough, the Queen decided that she had, and led the way back inside.

The bride's parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, are at the end, next to Prince Charles and Camilla. Then there are the bridesmaids Eliza Lopes, three, who is Camilla's granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, seven, daughter of William's uncle, Prince Edward, and Grace van Cutsem, three, William's goddaughter.

Further along are Margarita Armstrong-Jones, nine, granddaughter of the Queen's sister, Margaret, and page boys Tom Pettifer, eight, William's godson, and William Lowther-Pinkerton,10, whose father is William's private secretary. Kate's sister, Pippa, or Philippa, 27, and her brother, James Middleton, 23, who read at the ceremony, are either side of Prince Harry.