Prince William engagement rumours denied

Rumours that Britain’s Prince William will announce his engagement in June have been quelled by his official residence, Clarence House.

The Telegraph says that a blog entry by the well-connected biographer of the late Princess of Wales, Tina Brown, claimed that June 3 and 4 had been “mysteriously blocked out on the palace diaries” and could be a likely date for the long-awaited announcement of the engagement of the second in line to the throne and his girlfriend Kate Middleton. However, the paper says that a spokesman for Clarence House has said that both Prince William and his father, Prince Charles, will be carrying out public engagements on those days, while the Queen also has an official engagement on June 3. Brown suggested in the blog post that the 27-year-old prince and Middleton (28) could finally tie the knot in November, “but royal insiders insist the prince has given no indication of his plans,” says the Telegraph. The paper adds: “Miss Brown, a friend of the Prince’s late mother, described Miss Middleton as his ‘patient squeeze’ and said that a ‘high-placed source in royal circles’ had suggested the dates had been blocked for the announcement. “If so, a wedding itself would probably follow in November, like the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who married at Westminster Abbey that cold, damp November day in 1947,” she wrote. Brown, a former Vanity Fair editor, added that the Queen and Prince Philip are approaching two landmark moments: Philip will be 90 in June 2011, and the Queen celebrates her diamond jubilee – 60 years on the throne – in February 2012.