Kate Middleton and Sam Waley-Cohen at the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival on March 14, 2008 in Cheltenham, England. (Photo by Indigo/Getty Images)
LONDON – Sam Waley-Cohen should allow himself a smug smile at Friday's royal wedding, content that he did more than anyone to ensure the event watched by the world takes place.
Huge teams of workers and planners are laboring around the clock to make sure the big day goes off without a hitch, but if it was not for Waley-Cohen, a 28-year-old horse racing jockey, the marriage wouldn't be happening at all.
Waley-Cohen turned royal matchmaker in 2007 when, after Prince William and Kate Middleton had been split up for several months, he invited both of them to a party he organized at his wealthy family's 400-year-old mansion in Oxfordshire.
At the time it appeared as though the break-up would be permanent. However, William and Kate, who had scarcely seen each other since their split, spent hours locked in conversation and rekindled all of their old feelings.
Meet William and Kate’s matchmaker
