When the Prince of Wales married Diana Spencer in 1981, more than 750 million people tuned in to watch the grand affair on television. At the time, it was the most popular event ever broadcast.

That record will likely be eclipsed next month when Prince William, the firstborn son of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, weds Kate Middleton. Some experts are forecasting a television audience of more than a billion. In the generation of Twitter and YouTube, it could easily be the most viewed wedding in history.

This is quite extraordinary. For a fleeting moment on April 29, one seventh of the world’s population will be arrested by the actions of Britain’s royal family!

Thirty years ago, shortly after the nuptials of the Prince of Wales, Herbert Armstrong wrote about the wedding in a lengthy article in the Plain Truth. He recalled Britain’s unique ability to host such a “glorious and colorful extravaganza.” The wedding, he marveled, with its quintessentially British pomp and pageantry, its high-class guest list, and a bride who was “bright, cheerful and happy” was a “spectacle unparalleled.”

But for Mr. Armstrong the wedding came with an added dimension, one that excited him more than anything else. Beyond the material brilliance, he wrote, “[T]here is still far greater significance to this elaborate wedding.” The “throne of England,” he emphasized repeatedly in his article, is “important in the eyes of God!”

For Mr. Armstrong, the marriage of a British sovereign presented mankind with the opportunity to come face to face with one of the most thrilling truths in the Bible!

“I do not know whether the present generation of royal family know and believe it,” wrote Mr. Armstrong in 1981, “but I’ve been informed that the royal family of two or three generations ago did know that the British sovereign is in fact a continuation of the dynasty of King David of ancient Israel.”

In addition to the remarkable history of the British monarchy, Mr. Armstrong also recalled its awe-inspiring future. In his article he invoked the prophecy in Luke 1:32-33, which says that at His Second Coming, “the Lord God shall give unto [Jesus Christ] the throne of his father David.” As heirs of David’s royal dynasty, Mr. Armstrong explained, England’s royal family actually inhabits the very throne that Jesus Christ will inherit at His Second Coming.

Thirty years later, the royal marriage of Prince William comes with this same stunning dimension!

These days, most people would probably chuckle at the notion that the Queen of England (and her son and grandson) is a direct descendant of King David, and his forefathers Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. But Mr. Armstrong wasright, and his teaching is vindicated by history. In fact, it wasn’t all that long ago that it was widely believed that England’s royal traditions had their origins back in ancient Israel.

Consider, for example, an article that ran in the London Sun on June 28, 1837, the day of Queen Victoria’s coronation. The article covered the history of the coronation ceremony of an English sovereign, and specifically addressed the “stone of destiny,” which historically has always featured in the coronation of English kings and queens. “Between the seat and this board is enclosed a stone, commonly called Jacob’s, or the fatal marble, stone,” the article explained.

Notice what this popular newspaper wrote next: “History relates that it is the stone whereon the patriarch Jacob laid his head in the plains of Luz.”

You can read the history of Jacob’s pillar stone in Genesis 28. But here’s a British newspaper, less than 150 years ago, informing its readers about how Jacob’s pillar stone left Israel, and was “conveyed into Ireland by way of Spain about 700 years before Christ. From there it was taken into Scotland by King Fergus, about 370 years later; and in the year 350 b.c., it was placed in the abbey of Scone ….” (The stone was eventually transferred under England’s authority.)

Think on that. While Mr. Armstrong explained the history of England’s royal household in unmatched depth and scriptural detail, he was not alone in his teaching that the origins of this royal dynasty lay in ancient Israel. As recently as 1837, Englishnewspapers were recalling the history of Britain’s royal family and the stone of destiny and their origins in the land of ancient Israel!

This history condemns today’s media. When was the last time you read an objective story from the British media shedding light on the fascinating origins and traditions of the royal family? This is one of the most interesting and important topics in English history, yet the media is absolutely silent. This is why Mr. Armstrong considered the wedding of Prince Charles so significant, and why the Trumpet considers the upcoming wedding of Prince William to be important: Royal weddings give the world an opportunity to explore the stirring truth about Britain’s royal family!

The history of Britain’s royal family begins with the patriarch Abraham, upon whom God bestowed a history-altering promise in Genesis 12. In Genesis 17, God explained His promise to Abraham in more detail, telling him specifically that “kings shall come out of thee.” Generations later, God made the same promise to King David, a descendant of Abraham. Read the account in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 and note the absoluteness of this promise: “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee … and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. … And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

Here, God promises King David that He would establish his royal dynasty—and that it would continue forever!

To say that the dynasty of King David hasn’t continued to this day is to call God a liar. But where is that royal dynasty today? And if it is indeed in Britain, how did the throne and Jacob’s pillar stone end up there? Who took it to England? When did this journey take place? This is why Mr. Armstrong was thrilled by the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana: It was an opportunity for the world to discover the answers to these questions.

To help his readers answer these questions and capture the full significance of Prince Charles’s elaborate wedding, Mr. Armstrong reprinted many passages from his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Filled with scriptural proof and historical fact, this book provides a thorough and convincing exploration of the origins of the British royal family and its connection to the throne of David.

For example, on page 99 Mr. Armstrong explained how the Prophet Jeremiah was commissioned with the responsibility of relocating the royal dynasty (including Jacob’s pillar stone) to the British Isles. “Besides the royal family,” he wrote, “Jeremiah brought with them some remarkable things, including a harp, an ark, and a wonderful stone called ‘lia-fail,’ or ‘stone of destiny.’”

In 2011, as the wedding of Prince William approaches, we’d like to echo Mr. Armstrong’s sentiment: Today, more than ever, “the throne of England is important in the eyes of God!” Just as there was with the marriage of his father and mother, “there is still far greater significance to [the] elaborate wedding” of Prince William. If you’d like to understand the significance of what is sure to be a grand and glorious wedding, request your free copy of The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

This wedding will likely be one of the most popular events in recent memory, and The United States and Britain in Prophecy is the program guide that explains the remarkable history and significance of this event.

Six million people have already requested this book. Isn’t it time you did too?