Queen and Wills 'put VIP list in bin' - The Sun

PRINCE William has told how the Queen backed him when he complained that his friends were left off his wedding guest list in favour of dignitaries.

He said Her Majesty told him to "bin" the list and start again.

Wills, 29, was horrified by wedding plans drawn up by Palace officials after his engagement to Kate Middleton.

He said: "I was given this list of 777 names dignitaries, governors, all sorts of people and not one person I knew.

"I looked at it in absolute horror and said, 'I think we should start again'. I rang the Queen and said, 'Do we need to be doing this?'

"She said, 'No. Start with your friends and then go from there.' And she told me to bin the list."

Wills described the Queen who came to the Throne in 1952 when she was only 25, as "incredible."

He said: "You present a challenge in front of her and she'll climb it. And I think that to be doing that for 60 years, it's incredible."

The Prince added that the bond between them has gone from "strength to strength" over the years.

He said: "I say to people: 'She's my grandmother to me first and then she's the Queen'.

He also recalled how his grandmother, 85, praised him after his trip this year to visit victims of the Australian floods and New Zealand's earthquake and mining disasters.

He said: "She sent me the most wonderful letter saying, 'Well done, you did well down there'. It meant a lot to me."

The future King revealed he is happy in the Armed Forces and doesn't want to consider a fuller royal role just yet.

He said: ''I try not to think about it, to be honest.

''As I'm flying along in my helicopter through the mountains of Wales, I try desperately hard not to think about it.

''That can wait until I'm a bit older."

William's comments come in a new book on the Queen by royal author Robert Hardman.

THE Queen will tour several cities on next month's visit to Australia, it was revealed yesterday.

She will have engagements in Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne before opening the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.