A royal wedding wasn’t on the official itinerary last Saturday, when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Victoria.
But “Kate Middleton” couldn’t resist crashing a wedding reception at the Da Vinci Centre that night.
It was in the form of royal impersonator Karen Brelsford, who prompted gasps and applause when she made her surprise appearance Saturday night after Nicole Ranger and Matthew Miller tied the knot.
“When the ‘princess’ came in she was even wearing the same colour outfit [blue] we saw the real Kate in,” the bride texted from Italy, where the couple is honeymooning in Venice before traveling on to London.
“We were completely surprised and Cameron had us going for awhile,” Nicole said, referring to her husband’s old friend, Cameron Burton, the MC and best man who set up the surprise charade.
On a whim, Burton, 40, booked Brelsford after sending wedding invitations to Prince William and Kate at Kensington Palace, and to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, knowing they’d all be in town.
That the Miller wedding coincided with the royal visit seemed appropos considering Nicole is a huge fan of the royals. She is also, Burton confided, a closet Disney princess fan.
The couple postponed their wedding date by a year after Nicole’s mother barely survived a automobile accident in March of 2015 in which one of her best friends, the driver, died.
To Burton’s astonishment, he received a reply from the Prime Minister’s Office in which Trudeau expressed his regrets but wished the couple well.
During her half-hour wedding appearance, “Kate” offered her own regrets, confessing to dozens of guests that “our wedding invitation slipped under a sofa cushion.”
She also apologized for inadvertently double-booking herself for a welcoming ceremony at the legislature.
“I kept whispering in Will’s ear that we’re missing Nicole and Matt’s wedding,” she told the crowd.
Brelsford had to cut short her own attendance at the legislature for the royal couple’s arrival at 5:30 to do the gig.
After making her entrance at the Da Vinci Centre to royal fanfare that Burton covertly pre-arranged with the DJ, “Kate” also apologized for the street closures.
“I interrupted the shoe game and said, ‘Sorry, I need to go, something has come up,’ ” said Burton, recalling his segue to declaring: “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my honour to present to you Her Royal Highness.”
The crowd was stunned, recalled Burton, a visitor services staffer at Butchart Gardens, where Brelsford once worked.
While most guests soon realized it was an impersonator, it took the groom a little longer, he said.
“Every time she turned to Matt he wanted to bow,” he recalled, adding guests seemed happy to play along.
“People were sprinting to get into the royal receiving line and this was not really a sprinting crowd,” said Burton, who got the couple to introduce the guests to “Kate.”
Nicole, who works with Islands Trust, and Matthew, a machinist with Department of National Defence, had a brush with royalty even before the fake Kate entered the picture.
It was when the couple, who exchanged vows at St. Ann’s Academy, were driving around with photographer Jenny Hindley to shoot wedding photographs.
The wedding party had to pull over because of the royal motorcade, said Burton.
“We briefly saw the real Kate drive by and we were giddy with excitement just seeing a side profile,” texted Nicole. “I actually jumped out of the car!”
The icing on the cake was Nicole getting to fulfil her princess fantasy: The couple was picked up from St. Ann’s in a white horse-drawn carriage with a “pumpkin” on top.
