Prince William to Marry Kate Middleton Next Year

Prince William is to marry long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton next year, Clarence House has announced.

A brief statement released by Clarence House said: "The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton. The wedding will take place in the spring or summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course. Prince William has informed the Queen and other close members of his family. Prince William has also sought the permission of Miss Middleton's father."


William and Kate revealed they will wed next year after the Prince proposed on a romantic holiday in Kenya last month. The Prince said he had been working up the courage to ask Kate for her hand in marriage before they went away.

He said: "I'd been planning it for a while but as any guy out there will know it takes a certain amount of motivation to get yourself going. I was planning it and then it just felt really right out in Africa. It was beautiful at the time. I had done a little bit of planning to show my romantic side."


Wearing the blue sapphire and diamond engagement ring that the prince's father gave to Princess Diana in 1981, Middleton said:"It's quite a daunting prospect but hopefully I'll take it in my stride, and William's a great teacher so hopefully he'll be able to help me along the way. I'm really looking forward to spending my time with William."


Prince William said the ring "was very special to me" as was his bride-to-be. Giving it to her was "my way of making sure my mother didn't miss out on today".

Vettel Becomes Youngest F1 Champion

Sebastian Vettel won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to steal the Drivers World Championship from Fernando Alonso by four points.

The Red Bull driver becomes the youngest ever F1 Champion at 23 years and 135 days with Lewis Hamilton now demoted to second youngest at 23 years and 307 days.


'I’m a bit speechless, to be honest, I don’t know what I’m supposed to say at this moment. An incredibly tough season physically and mentally but we always kept believing in the team and the car and I kept believing in myself.


Today was a special day all around. This morning I got up and just tried to be calm and avoid contact with people. As you say, we’ve only led this championship once, but when it matters. I’m speechless, as I said, the car was phenomenal. The start was close with Lewis and we then had a bit of graining, but car stabilised from then.


It was good that Lewis got up behind Kubica and got held up, so I could make a gap but, yeah, to be honest I didn’t know anything unless I crossed the chequered flag.(Race Engineer) Rocky was always trying to give me some advise, I was thinking, ‘Why is this guy so nervous? We must be in a bloody good position!’After crossing the line Rocky said, ‘It’s looking good but we have to wait’ and then he came on screaming that we’d won the World Championship.


I have to thank all of the mechanics, all of the engineers…sorry, I’m making this a bit long!…all the guys in Milton Keynes are pushing like hell enjoying this moment and back in Austria, all the guys who have been supporting me from the beginning. It’s unbelievable; I can only say things to all the people from karting in Kerpen and my hometown Heppenheim. I don’t know how many times we’ve had a different leader in this championship. Ferrari were there, McLaren came back, Lewis was leading the championship, Lewis had a retirement in Hungary, myself in Australia and Korea and I think all of us had to go though ups and downs. A tough season mentally, but sometimes you just need to be able to ignore what people are saying and get things done. I’m very proud.'


Vettel's status as F1's youngest champion is the latest in a line of such accolades he has acquired. Having made his debut as reserve driver for BMW Sauber at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, be became the youngest driver to score a championship point the following year at Indianapolis. Joining Toro Rosso, Vettel then became the youngest driver to win a grand prix in Italy in 2008 before joining Red Bull.