Royal wedding: Westminster Abbey seating plan revealed

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The seating plan for Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey has been revealed.

Close family members are to sit closest to the royal couple as they take their vows on Friday.

The Queen and other members of the Royal Family will sit across the aisle from the Middleton family.

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry will sit in the front row.

Carole Middleton will sit directly opposite the Queen, next to her husband Michael and her son James.

The remaining places on their front row are yet to be confirmed.

Celebrity guests

Westminster Abbey is essentially two churches, said the BBC's Royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell.

Those sitting near the high altar will have the best view of the marriage while guests in the nave would see very little, he said.

The wedding will see 2,000 guests pack the 1,000-year-old Abbey.

Celebrity guests include Sir Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham and Rowan Atkinson.

Also attending will be Olympic swimming star Ian Thorpe, who recently announced that he was coming out of retirement to compete in the London 2012.

Prince William met the sportsman when he visited Australia last year and he is now a supporter of the swimmer's charity, Thorpe's Fountain for Youth.

Other sports personalities attending will be Former England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Trevor Brooking, a Football Association colleague of the Prince who is the body's president, and Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas.

Service personnel also feature heavily in the guest list.

Squadron Leader Paul Bolton, from RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, where the prince is based as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot has been invited.

Prince William has invited members of the families of two close friends and colleagues from Sandhurst who died on active service.

Holly Dyer, the sister of 2nd Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, who was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2007, and Susie Roberts, the widow of William's Sandhurst platoon commander Major Alexis Roberts, killed four years ago in Afghanistan, will both be in the congregation.

Spencer family

Next to the Middletons will be members of the Spencer family including Lady Sarah McCorquodale, the sister of William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Lady Anne Wake-Walker, Diana's aunt; Lord Fellowes and Lady Jane Fellowes, Diana's brother-in-law and sister; and Earl Spencer will be seated alongside her.

Foreign dignitaries and diplomats will sit in the South Transept which is directly to the side.

The south side of the Abbey will be reserved for Prime Minister David Cameron and other cabinet members and Ed Miliband, Labour leader.

Seated behind the choir will be faith representative and friends of the bridge and groom.