KATE MIDDLETON’S wedding dress goes on display at Buckingham Palace today, along with other momentos from the big day, including Kate’s wedding earrings and most of the wedding cake.


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For the summer exhibition, two of the cake’s eight layers have been replaced by replicas. These two will be used for the Christening of Will and Kate’s first child, as tradition dictates.

Among other wedding items on show are the tiara given to Kate – aka the Duchess of Cambridge – by the Queen for the wedding; the veil that went with the £250,000 dress and Kate’s size five and a half wedding slippers.

The royal residence opens its doors to hundreds of thousands of paying customers at about this time every year, but 2011’s crowds are expected to be bigger than ever thanks to the infusion of Will and Kate wedding fever.

Organisers estimate at least 600,000 people will file through the gilded gates during the ten weeks of the palace’s summer opening, easily beating the previous record of 420,000 set in 1994.

Tickets for the Buckingham Palace summer opening cost £17.50 and can be obtained here.