Royal Wedding Apps Flourish!

Prince William and Kate Middleton
(photo by Mario Testino)
The excitement over the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton this April 29 has given birth to so many ‘royal’ apps – some free, some for a fee (yes, this is clearly business for some).
Even Buckingham Palace will be releasing today, April 18, its first “Royal App” by the Royal Collection. And it has a royal wedding website as well! Goes to show that the British monarchy is now adapting technology to help bring them closer to their loyal subjects. What a change from the distant, put-on-a-pedestal-to-be-admired-from-afar royal family of old.
In my other blog, Here’s To Life!, I wrote about why this royal wedding is particularly fascinating to me. And, since I own an iPad, I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the official app from Buckingham Palace. For starters, I’ve already got the FREE app, The Royal Wedding by Hello! on my iPad.
Here are some of the more interesting ones I’ve found (pls note that not all these apps may be available to Philippine users):
FREE
1. The Royal Wedding by Hello! (Hello Ltd), iPhone and iPad – So far, this is the best app I’ve seen. The UI is very clean and the info is almost comprehensive in nature.

2. Royal Wedding Video App (ITN), iPhone and Android – the video content is linked to ITN’s ‘Royal Wedding Channel’ on YouTube.
3. A Royal Wedding Celebration: William and Kate (Onteca), iOS Universal – also has impressive content on how the couple met to the guest list. There is an ‘iPad only’ version of the app but it is priced at $0.99.
PAID
1. Royal App (Royal Collection), iOS Universal and Android, expected to sell at £1.79 beginning April 18.

2. Royal Wedding Essential Guide (BlueYellow Media Ltd), iOS Universal, $0.99 – Has a wide range of content and features an interactive map using GPS showing locations relevant to the wedding. It has a lot of trivia about the couple as well as a Royal Personality Test to show which royal person has the same personality as you. Right now, this price is 50% off so I don’t know how long it will be on sale.

3. Royal Wedding Invite (Ryan Stevens), $0.99 – you have a “pretend” invite to the royal wedding.It used to be a free app but having seen its content on my iPad just now, I won’t spend to buy the app.
4. Royal Wedding – The Wills and Kate Story (Trinity Mirror Digital Media Ltd), iPhone and iPad, $1.99 – This is a hefty 183MB download because it contains video and audio narratives from James Whitaker, world’s foremost Royal Correspondent. 
One more thing, don’t fail to visit the official royal wedding site. CLICK HERE.