Fairtrade wedding rings for Prince William and Kate?

Britain's Prince William and bride-to-be Kate Middleton could have wedding rings made of Fairtrade gold.

Officials involved in brokering the deal for Third World miners - to ensure they get fair prices for gold which will then be stamped as Fairtrade - are hoping the couple, who will wed on April 29, will use the product for their wedding bands.

Jewellers Garrard - who made the engagement ring for William's mother Princess Diana, which he gave to Kate - are said to be waiting to hear from Buckingham Palace as to whether the new Fairtrade gold should be used when forging the couple's wedding rings.

Stephen Webster, Garrard's creative director, told the Daily Mirror: "It would be wonderful if Prince William and Kate agreed to it."

Traditionally the gold used for royal wedding rings since the marriage of the future King George VI - to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, mother of present queen Elizabeth II- in 1923 has come from the Clogau St David's mine in Snowdonia, Wales.

It has been suggested that the rings could be made from a mix of Fairtrade and Welsh gold.

Meanwhile the dress Kate wore when she first caught the eye of Prince William will go on auction next month and is expected to raise £10,000.

Charlotte Todd - who designed the diaphanous dress worn by Kate for a charity fashion show at St Andrew's University nine years ago - has praised the future royal's style and revealed she thinks the dress played a big part in creating the royal romance.

She told Britain's Daily Mail: "I think Kate has something a bit like Princess Diana had, a sense of style. She always looks stunning. She's going to be a very fashionable kind of princess.

"The dress was meant to be a skirt. I don't know whether Kate was given it to wear or whether she chose it. If it was her idea to wear it as a dress, she was very brave. I can't imagine her doing it now - it would be frowned upon.

"But I wonder whether she was trying to get his attention with it, whether she said, 'I'll have that, so that I can bag the Prince'."