The royal wedding goes digital with a new website

Chris Jackson

First the Queen was on Facebook, now Kate and Wills have their very own wedding website!

What do you notice right away? How about the fact that the name Kate Middleton is nowhere to be found? It's Catherine Middleton now. Let the re-branding begin!

The site launched on Wednesday morning and reportedly had more than 200,000 hits in the first eight hours, with more than two million page views in the first three days. Either folks are quite interested in this little shindig, or the Queen and Mark Zuckerberg’s SEO (that's "search engine optimization") people have teamed up to drive those uniques through the roof and eventually have a royal wedding website IPO!

The site, which was reportedly financed by Prince Charles, allows royal-hungry users to find out about the service, the procession, the reception — and all the other things they aren't invited to. There’s a photo gallery of Westminster Abbey as well as a virtual tour of Buckingham Palace, where Prince Philip can be seen wandering around with his robe open. (Just kidding.)

There are also breaking royal news stories about "Daffodils in Green Park" and the "Launch of the Royal Website!" Huh?

The site, which can be accessed from 180 countries, promises to share all the details in the run-up to the big day. The palace is also reportedly considering a live video feed of the actual wedding ceremony.  Right now, the main video on the homepage is from Kate and William's recent visit to St. Andrew's, Scotland. I can tell you, unlike that kitten licking the tiny, little ice cream cone, this vid is not going viral.

Of course, there are links to Facebook and a Twitter feed from Clarence House, and the site can also be accessed from the main Royal Family site.

It’s worth a visit, but don’t try to get them a gift online.  I couldn’t find the link to their Pottery Barn registry anywhere.