Chip East / Reuters
Well, this comes as a bit of a shock: Former Labour Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did not receive invitations to Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding at Westminster Abbey next week. However, both their conservative predecessors, Sir John Major and Baroness Margaret Thatcher, were invited. A spokesman for St. James's Palace said the Labour prime ministers did not receive invitations because they were not made knights by the queen, while Major and Thatcher were. Blair's relationship with the royal family was strained, as was Brown's, though to a lesser extent. Blair's wife, Cherie, refused to curtsy to any members of the family, and things were particularly tense after 2002, when one of Blair's aides attempted to intervene in making arrangements for the funeral service of the late Queen Mum. All surviving former prime ministers made the guest list for Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding in 1981.