Prince William will strongly sense his mother’s presence when he stands at the altar with Kate.

As two billion people witness the prince on his special day, so many will turn their thoughts to the woman who lovingly moulded his entire world – his precious mum, Princess Diana.

“I wanted to make sure my mother did not miss out on today and the excitement that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together,” William said as he prepared for his wedding.

William, 28, won’t be alone in his thoughts. Those joining him in the Abbey, and indeed, the millions who have watched images of his parents’ wedding replayed in the lead-up to the big day, will spare a thought for a mother who is not there to celebrate her son’s momentous occasion. She was his world, the hands-on mum who famously said, “I live for my sons. I would be lost without them.”

As it turned out, William was lost without her. But even in his most anguished moments after her death in 1997, he remembered the one thing she promised would bring him happiness – love.
“If you find someone you love in your life,” she told him, in one of their many mother/son chats, “then hang onto that love”.
You can see he has taken heed of those words, by the way he tenderly holds his Kate.