Queen Elizabeth Told William and Kate to Break Protocol for the Royal Wedding, and That's Exactly What They Did

Sovereign leader of the Commonwealth, ruling monarch of the United Kingdom, Defender of the Faith: Queen Elizabeth goes by many names. One we don’t often hear? Grandma.

But that’s the role she chose to embody when discussing Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton. According to the Express, Queen Elizabeth secretly told William he could “tear up” the formal guest list for his royal wedding to Middleton. (Yasssss, Gran!)

Like any soon-to-be bride and groom (except, with the entire world watching them), Will and Kate were feeling overwhelmed by the amount of people they were required to send invitations to back when they were planning their big day in 2011.

Per Express, royals author Marcia Moody explained in her book Kate: A Biography that the prince was “presented with a list of hundreds of people who he should invite and [William] felt his heart sink.”

With a list like that, William and Kate weren’t able to add many personal touches or invite as many of their close friends as they had wanted, so the Duke of Cambridge took up the matter with Granny Lilibet. 

“He spoke to the Queen and she told him to tear up the list, invite his friends and start from there,” Moody wrote. 

Also according to Moody, Prince Harry, who served as William’s best man, and Pippa Middleton, sister of the bride, decorated the Buckingham Palace Throne Room with disco balls, bowls of the newlyweds’ favorite candy and cocktails for a pre-reception party.

Permission from Her Majesty to include a champagne tower in the Throne Room as well? Yep, pretty much granted.

After Will and Kate’s famous balcony kiss, Harry told his brother he had a surprise, then walked the duke and duchess to the Throne Room to show off his “best man” skills. 

We just wonder if Gan-Gan had any say in the disco ball decor…