Prince William and Kate Middleton are engaged and will wed in 2011

After a courtship lasting eight years, Prince William has proposed to his sweetheart Kate Middleton.

"The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton"

These words, which appeared on the British Monarchy's official Twitter page on Tuesday, confirmed the happy news that the future king is due to wed. A full statement from Clarence House said the highly-anticipated nuptials will take place next year.

"The wedding will take place in the spring or summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course," read the statement.

The announcement also gave details of William's romantic proposal, which took place "in October during a private holiday in Kenya".

It continued: "Prince William has informed The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince William has also sought the permission of Miss Middleton’s father.

"Following the marriage, the couple will live in north Wales, where Prince William will continue to serve with the Royal Air Force."

The couple have been dating since meeting at St Andrews University. They separated briefly in 2007, but have been together ever since.

Hello Magazine 

An appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

I got a lot of funny looks ten years ago when I started talking to people about Wikipedia.

Let’s just say some people were skeptical of the notion that volunteers from all across the world could come together to create a remarkable pool of human knowledge – all for the simple purpose of sharing.

No ads. No agenda. No strings attached.

A decade after its founding, nearly 400 million people use Wikipedia and its sister sites every month - almost a third of the Internet-connected world.

It is the 5th most popular website in the world - but Wikipedia isn’t anything like a commercial website. It is a community creation, written by volunteers making one entry at a time. You are part of our community. And I’m writing today to ask you to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Together, we can keep it free of charge and free of advertising. We can keep it open – you can use the information in Wikipedia any way you want. We can keep it growing – spreading knowledge everywhere, and inviting participation from everyone.

Each year at this time, we reach out to ask you and others all across the Wikimedia community to help sustain our joint enterprise with a modest donation of $20, $35, $50 or more.

If you value Wikipedia as a source of information – and a source of inspiration – I hope you’ll choose to act right now.

All the best,

Jimmy Wales

Founder, Wikipedia

P.S. Wikipedia is about the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. People like us write Wikipedia, one word at a time. People like us fund it, one donation at a time. It's proof of our collective potential to change the world.