As excitement builds around the world in anticipation of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, Kenya began early celebrations of the marriage by handing out gifts of Kenyan roses to London commuters at the London Bridge, Waterloo, Liverpool Street and the Kings Cross underground station on the morning of 20th April 2011.

The 13,000 roses were hand-picked from Flamingo Farm in Naivasha and handed out to commuters by a group of Maasai warriors in their full traditional dress at these various locations. National, trade and lifestyle UK media also received a bouquet of roses each.

A card was attached to each rose with a note to highlight Kenya’s offerings as a romantic destination which Prince William had chosen as the location for his marriage proposal to Kate Middleton last October in a beautiful lakeside spot on Mount Kenya.

The bride and groom have also included a ‘Save the Black Rhino’ project in Kenya among the charities close to their hearts on their wedding gift list.

Kenya Tourist Board partnered with the Kenya Flower Council and Maasai Arts Organisation to make this event possible. UK tour operator, Hayes and Jarvis provided a special romantic holiday package for those wishing to experience the romance of Kenya for themselves.

The timing of the wedding will mean there will be 2 4-day public holidays and 2 weekends in succession. The day of the wedding has been declared a bank holiday. The Monday after the wedding, May 2, is already a designated bank holiday and the previous weekend is Easter, which also has 2 bank holidays on the Friday and Monday.

We wish the royal couple the best in their new union and may Kenya continue to be at the centre of the hearts as they keep coming back to experience this romantic destination.