Arriving late for your wedding day is not a mistake for a bride but an option she has to consider carefully.

Some decide to keep their grooms waiting at the altar, nervously glancing behind them, but others turn up on the dot.

There is speculation that Kate Middleton may arrive a few minutes after her Westminster Abbey marriage service is due to start at 11 a.m.

When a St James’s Palace spokesman was asked if Prince William’s fiancée planned to keep him waiting, he replied: “It’s the bride’s prerogative.”

Ms Middleton is due to leave the Goring Hotel in Belgravia with her father Michael at 10.51 a.m. on the wedding day.

But her Rolls-Royce driver could be instructed to leave a little later or take his time so the crowds lining the route can catch a glimpse of Ms Middleton in her wedding dress.

Prince William is expected to be the last person in the country to see his bride-to-be in her gown.

“It’s her intention that the dress is secret from Prince William until he sees it,” said a St James’s Palace spokesman.

Screens will be placed around the Abbey allowing guests to watch live footage of Ms Middleton as she is driven to the service.

But by this stage Prince William will be in a side chapel preparing himself with his brother and best man Prince Harry.

He will emerge moments before his bride-to-be arrives, but will probably only see the dress when he glances to his side after her procession up the aisle.