Royal Roundup: Kate’s Dress is the Big Draw at Palace Show

Curator Caroline de Guitaut adjusts Kate's dress for the palace exhibit.

Kate Middleton‘s wedding dress is the centerpiece of the exhibition honoring the royal wedding that opens at Buckingham Palace on Saturday.

“It is just a work of art and a tribute to British couture,” Caroline de Guitaut, the exhibit’s curator, told Sky News.

The dress is by no means the only item in the show, which kicks off the summer opening of the palace while the Queen vacations in Scotland. Up to 600,000 visitors will also be able to see the famous tiara that Kate borrowed from her groom’s family, as well as her shoes, veil and flowers. There will even be a reconstructed version of the wedding cake, which will demonstrate where the couple cut the first slice.

The dress, however, is undeniably the major draw of the show, writes Jess Cartner-Morley in The Guardian, noting that there was a significant spike in ticket sales when its inclusion was announced in June.

But the press has been curious about one of the other dresses from the wedding as well. “The curators,” writes Cartner-Morley, “refused to be drawn on whether they had considered further boosting box office appeal by adding Pippa Middleton‘s bridesmaid dress to the display.”

In other royal-related news: 

• The royal couple’s trip to Canada is leaving fond memories for Vancouver musician Dan Mangan, who met Kate and William when he played for them at Canada Day celebrations in Ottowa. “They’re very sweet,” Mangan told the Winnipeg Free Press. “I shook hands with them, exchanged about nine words…. They were really lovely, though.” The 28-year-old was also wowed by the Duchess of Cambridge. “Kate’s a babe,” says Mangan. “Kate’s a total babe.”

• While Joss Stone‘s been talking about the foiled kidnap plot against her, she’s also been reminiscing about the fun she had at the royal wedding. She tried to be on her “best behavior,” she told E! “I had a really weird lunch with lovely people, but I didn’t know any of them,” she said.  ”After the church I ended up getting totally rat a**ed with like ten people I’d never met before in my whole life. It was brilliant.”

• Pizza, Lego, stamps, jellybeans — all are media in which the royal couple’s likeness has been sculpted. So how come no finger puppets? That’s an oversight that has been corrected by designer Melanie Howard, who crafts her diminutive puppets by hand in St. Louis, Mississippi. Her Kate and Will are dressed as they were for their wedding. Howard also makes puppets of other celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, and Mr. T.