Royal Wedding: A Princess-to-Be on a Shopping Spree

LONDON, April 20, 2011— -- Kate Middleton made a quick shopping trip (to Banana Republic as well as other stores) Tuesday evening, spending $400 on three summer dresses and a blouse. You guessed it: Newspapers will be full of mock-ups of what Middleton might look like in her new threads.

Whether it means the royal couple will honeymoon somewhere hot remains to be seen. That's Prince William's secret. And he's not telling Middleton.

Meanwhile, she's not telling him about her wedding dress. "It's quite nice they're doing these little romantic things in the midst of what is a global media event," said Duncan Larcombe, ABC News royal contributor.

The world will be first to see the wedding dress when Middleton leaves her hotel at 10:51 a.m London time. Yes, the timings are that exact.

All eyes will be on the bride as she makes the nine-minute drive to Westminster Abbey. "While the other guests will be able to glance at screens within the abbey and see that moment," Larcombe said.

But William won't see a thing. From 10:40 a.m., William and brother Prince Harry will be corralled in an ancient chapel at the abbey, with no view of the procession and no TV sets. "He will probably be the last person on the planet to see it," Larcombe said.

William will spend the night before the wedding with Harry and Prince Charles at St. James's Palace. "People often misunderstand Prince Charles's relationship with William and Harry," Larcombe said of their father. "I think probably tainted by this, Diana was an amazing mother and Prince Charles was an awful husband but actually they're very, very close."

On the eve of the wedding, Charles will skip a dinner for foreign royals to be with his sons. "I think Kate might be relieved to know that William's not having one last wild night out in London," Larcombe said. "I don't think nights get that wild when you're sat down with your dad ... and it's Prince Charles."