Royal Wedding: Prince William and Kate Get Marital Counseling

LONDON — Prince William and fiancee Kate Middleton have another chore on their must-do pre-wedding list: Sit down with priests to think about the vows they will make.

The couple are expected to meet Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Bishop of London Richard Chartres before they marry April 29, palace officials said Wednesday. Both clergy will be involved in the wedding ceremony at London's Westminster Abbey.

"It's customary for a priest to meet with the couple before their wedding," said Maria Papworth, Williams' spokeswoman.

These marriage preparation sessions include discussions on how to handle marital disagreements and how to prepare for the changes brought on by parenthood. Meetings often take place in groups, but talks for the soon-to-be royal couple will be private and strictly confidential.

The marriage of William's parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, ended in divorce. St. James Palace would not comment on whether they also received similar attention, but it is normal practice for a Church of England wedding.

Comments

[Mai Clark]

03:47 PM on 12/14/2010

i think that is a good thing. These days I think we all have a romantic idea of what a marriage should be. You look at all these Hollywood actors who marry one day and a few months later they are getting divorced. Marriage is to be taken seriously and it is a promise to spend the rest of your life with that person, for richer or poorer and in sickness and health. I hope these two can make that kind of committment, if they can not then don't be pressured into getting married.

[docbets]

04:57 AM on 12/13/2010

Marital counseling by priests. Are they celibate?

[peithecelt]

10:13 AM on 12/14/2010

These would be CoE priests/ministers, who are not celibate.

[beyondliberal]

12:30 PM on 12/12/2010

I wish I'd had pre-marital counseling. No doubt that if I had, I never would have married the loser I did.
The good news is we had divorce counseling!

[Balzac]

03:59 PM on 12/11/2010

He's found himself a fine lady.

[Brandino43]

03:35 PM on 12/10/2010

Pre-marital counseling should be a requirement before someone can purchase a marriage license. As a pastor, every couple I have done pre-marital counseling with so far has remained married. I'm not bragging on myself [I use Norman Wright's 'Before You Say I DO"], I am making the point that preparation helps with the bumps in the road. I have also counseled numerous couples with marriages on the brink. I often find many of their issues would have been addressed in good pre-marital counseling. I have refused to marry a few couples because they were too lazy to complete the work in counseling. Every one of those couples went somewhere else to get married and to date every one of those marriages ended within a year. Success begins with preparation.

[yill danniel]

09:03 PM on 12/09/2010

I doubt any amount of counseling will prepare her for the whirlwind that awaits her. Run Kate while you can.

[peithecelt]

10:14 AM on 12/14/2010

The thing which Kate has in favor which Diana did not is that she's been in the public eye for pushing a decade now, she knows what is in store for her, *and* she is William's first pick, not the second choice appropriate pick. I think these two will have the success his parents did not have.

[Lahonda]

06:25 PM on 12/09/2010

It's a bit late, they're engaged. I'd fall over laffing if they annulled the marriage before the wedding.

I know, I know...

[minty68]

04:46 PM on 12/09/2010

Couldn't hurt.

[alicam]

03:59 PM on 12/09/2010

Six months of pre-marital counseling should be the law here in the U.S.

[Nicole Dixson]

01:26 PM on 12/09/2010

Whatever helps to put them on the road to a lasting marriage.

[Social Shrink]

12:59 PM on 12/09/2010

Such a misleading headline... and I was a sucker for it!!!

www.thesocialshrink.blogspot.com

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

11:22 AM on 12/09/2010

Don't tell me, don't tell me...it's from a priest.

[janie@atthelake]

09:09 AM on 12/09/2010

Misleading­ headline. So, I'll through this one in here. Dang, I wish the distributors of the film
The Kings Speech would bring this gem to central Texas. I don't know anyone that does not want to see this film.
Think its only playing in 6 or 7 places.

[Scalian]

09:04 AM on 12/09/2010

That is the best way to do it. Spending that enormous time planning the wedding and the huge cost, but spending no time learning how to be married is like the Super Bowl team spending the weeks leading up to the game planning the half time show and no time practicing for the game.

[Dembabe40]

08:38 AM on 12/09/2010

Not news.