Royal wedding: Lip reader reveals Prince William's altar words

Published on 29/04/2011 13:13

A lip reader says Prince William cracked a joke to his father-in-law at the altar before the ceremony, saying: "We're supposed to have just a small family affair".

The joke by the heir to the throne to Mr Middleton in Westminster Abbey was spotted by Tina Lannin, lipreader for O'Malley Communications.

She also spotted Prince Harry nervously comment "Right, she is here now", as Miss Middleton arrived at the abbey.

Ms Lannin, who has been deaf all her life, relies on lipreading to communicate and can lipread in Arabic, Spanish, German and Japanese, as well as English.

She works as a careers consultant and is also a forensic lipreader, reading CCTV and other media where sound is absent.