Hunt toasts Royal couple with Shakespeare

The culture secretary today used the words of the nation's greatest playwright to toast the Royal couple ahead of tomorrow's nuptials.

Reciting part of Shakespeare's Sonnet 136, Jeremy Hunt said: "Make but my name thy love, and love that still; And then thou lov'st me, for my name is Will."

Speaking in the Commons this morning, Hunt expressed good wishes to all of those attending street parties to celebrate the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The culture secretary and his wife Lucia are among the guests attending the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Hunt may have wanted to recite the whole sonnet (below), but he was probably wary of the Speaker's distaste for rambling answers to questions.

"If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will,
And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there;
Thus far for love my love-suit sweet fulfill.
Will will fulfill the treasure of thy love,
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one.
In things of great receipt with ease we prove
Among a number one is reckoned none.
Then in the number let me pass untold,
Though in thy store’s account I one must be.
For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold
That nothing me, a something sweet to thee.
Make but my name thy love, and love that still;
And then thou lov’st me, for my name is Will."
Sonnet 136

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