After eight long and sometimes lonely years of waiting, Kate Middleton will today marry Prince William.

At 11am, the middle-class graduate - who, so legend has it, used to lie in her dormitory bed gazing at a picture of her husband-to-be - will enter Westminster Abbey as a commoner and an hour later walk out as the future Queen Catherine.

Last night Kate was positivelyglowing as she arrived at the central London hotel where she was to spend her final night as a single woman.

With her mother, Carole, and younger sister, Pippa, she paused for several minutes and waved to the delighted well-wishers who had gathered outside.

Today's chapter in the couple's romance - punctuated, like many relationships, with tearful break-ups and emotional reunions - will be watched by an estimated worldwide audience of two billion.

More than half a million will line London's streets as part of a joyfulcelebration similar to the outbreak of optimism 30 years ago when William's parents, Charles and Diana, married at St Paul's Cathedral.

The only fly in the ointment could be the weather. Forecasters admitted that a burst of April showers was a distinct possibility.

The couple's thoroughly modern relationship has seen them become the most senior members of the Royal Family to live together before marriage, an unthinkable arrangement even a couple of decades ago.

Unlike the Queen, who promised to obey Prince Philip when they married in 1947, Kate will today pledge only to 'love, comfort, honour and keep'.

She has kept the country guessing right up until the 11th hour over the identity of the designer of her much-anticipated dress, telling friends she wanted it to be a surprise for William.

(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)