Kate Middleton’s childhood pictures show a little girl every bit as lovely as the grown woman. The official royal wedding site — which puts most average couples’ weddding sites to shame — just put these out today and smartly made them available to all via Flickr.

For everything about the royal wedding, be sure to visit the AOL Royal Wedding site. With the big day coming up on April 29, we expect news every day.

Questions still swirl around who will design Middleton’s gown. Reports out of the U.K. had Alexander McQueen’s creative director, Sarah Burton, as the threadmaster.

While McQueen officials are issuing denials — which they would be obliged to do, even if it were true — sources told the U.K.’s Telegraph that Burton has been chosen for her discretion, talent and quirky, feminine take on elegance.
Here’s Kate at age 5:

Middleton on her graduation day:

Middleton and Prince William in 2005:

Bucklebury in Berkshire is not only where Prince William’s fiancee, Kate Middleton, spent her childhood, it also is home to a beautiful 900-acre common, where visitors will find the famous Avenue of Oaks.

Bucklebury can be split into three parts: the village with the Pang River; Upper Bucklebury, which is home to a general store, a pub and a primary school; and the Bucklebury Common.

Created during medieval times, the Bucklebury Common originally was a place for commoners to bring animals to graze. Today, the Bucklebury Common is privately owned, but it is open to the public. The common includes ponds, woodlands, flora and fauna and lots of wildlife. While there are many features of the Bucklebury Common, the Avenue of Oaks is perhaps the most famous.

It is believed that Queen Elizabeth I planted the first oaks on the avenue when she visited Bucklebury in 1560. Since then, trees have been planted in the two rows to commemorate victories at Marlborough and the Battle of Waterloo.

In 1972, Queen Elizabeth II planted oaks during her visit, and in 1980 Princess Anne planted oaks in celebration of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s 80th birthday, according to the Parish of Bucklebury website. Additional oak trees also were planted in 2000 to commemorate the millennium.

The Avenue of the Oaks runs from Roselands to Chapel Row to Bucklebury House. The avenue, which consists of two rows of oaks, is one mile long.

Home to about 2,000 residents, Bucklebury is located about 40 miles from London and about five miles northeast of Newbury, according to the Bucklebury Estate website. Bucklebury is still home to Middleton’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.

Michael and Carole Middleton will watch their daughter marry Prince William at Westminster Abbey on April 29.

The Archbishop hopes that the couple’s poise in the face of intense media scrutiny will set an example for the rest of the world.

“I hope they’ll be given the strength and the persistence to go on showing the rest of us what’s possible for the whole of their life together,” he said.

He also said, according to Us Magazine, that he was impressed that Prince William and Middleton had such a “clear sense” of the magnitude of their nuptials.

“They’re responsible to the whole of society, and responsible to God for their relationship … I think that they are deeply unpretentious people, and that message about taking that responsibility sensibly, realistically, courageously, comes over very strongly in conversation with them.”

With The Archbishop in their corner, we have no doubt that the royal couple’s romance will be one for the ages.

Royal Wedding: Kate’s 29th Birthday