Queen Elizabeth Was More Satisfied With Prince William’s Wedding Than King Charles’s

In the years following Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton, which took place on April 29, 2011, there’s been no shortage of conversation around the couple’s big-day and reactions from the rest of the royal family. According to Tina Brown, a royal expert, former Vanity Fair editor, and author of The Palace Papers, Queen Elizabeth felt a “special satisfaction” watching the couple tie the knot—and it was in stark contrast to how she felt about William’s parents’ wedding 30 years before.

According to Marie Claire, Queen Elizabeth looked more positively on her grandson’s wedding than her son’s due, in large part, to differences between the brides. “For The Queen, the wedding day brought a special satisfaction. This new, 29-year-old granddaughter-in-law, the future Queen Consort, was unlike the child bride Diana, road-tested in resilience as well as royal life,” Brown said in her book. Kate was 29 when she married William; by contrast, Diana was only 20 when she wed her 32-year-old husband, Charles.

What’s more, Kate had also been in the public eye for years. She and William began dating in 2001, when they were college students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Though they broke up briefly in 2007, Kate became a well-watched figure in the UK during that time. By the time the duo announced their engagement in 2010, Kate had already dealt with her fair share of media attention, something that Princess Diana famously struggled with throughout her marriage and beyond.

According to E! News, Princess Diana was given “little guidance” on what was expected of her after she got engaged to Charles, and the royal family’s staff didn’t do much to control the media frenzy that developed once the wedding was announced publicly. It seems as though the late monarch did learn from that mistake; in recent years, rumors have swirled that both Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle had to undergo prep sessions and security trainings before their own royal weddings, People reports.

As it turns out, Queen Elizabeth wasn’t just happier about Kate’s age; she also appreciated the couple’s wedding ceremony, which took place in London’s Westminster Abbey. The royal expert also notes that, after the duo exchanged vows, the monarch reportedly turned to her husband, Prince Philip, and said, “That was really excellent, wasn’t it?”