Prince William celebrates ex Jecca Craig's wedding as other royals spend Easter with the Queen

Publish date: 2024-06-26

As Kate Middleton celebrated Princess Charlotte's first Easter, Prince William embarked on a four-day trip to Kenya where he also attended the nuptials of an old flame.

On Saturday, the 33-year-old royal attended the wedding ofhis former girlfriend Jessica "Jecca" Craig to professor Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation at the Zoological Society of London.The couple's ceremony was held at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.

Photos: Getty Images

Prior to the nuptials, 150 guests, including the royal dad-of-two, enjoyed a champagne reception on Friday evening. According to The Telegraph, Williamwas seen laughing and chatting with friends, enjoying Coca Cola rather than the alcoholic beverages.

While Kate received an invite to the wedding, a royal source told HELLO! that the mom-of-two would be spending Easter weekend with her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. She opted for a more lowkey holiday instead of joining William's family at Windsor Castle for church with the Queen.

The Duke of Cambridge has since been a longtime friend of the Craig family. Back in 2008, William missed his own cousin, Peter Phillip’s wedding to attend Jessica's brother’s nuptials.

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Photo: Getty Images

William and the bride met during one of his trips to Africa in 1998 when he was just 16 years old. Guests at the wedding revealed to the Telegraph thatthe prince is “very much attached” to the African conservancy. Williamreportedly spent time during his gap year there. The reserve is also where heproposed to his wife Kate in 2010. Other than the Duchess of Cambridge, Jecca is the only woman William has ever issued a public statement about.

Before traveling to the African country, KensingtonPalace announced that the royal's trip would be a private one and would focus on hiswildlife and conservation campaign. William, who is a patronof Tusk Trust, was expected to see first-hand some of the longstanding conservation andanti-poaching initiatives taking place in Kenya, in addition to observing vetsfit radio tracking collars on to elephants and spending time with rangers at theLewa Conservancy.

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