Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has responded to the royal wedding by composing a poem called Rings that does not mention Prince William and Kate Middleton at all.

Rings, published in the Saturday Review of the Guardian, appears as part of an anthology of 22 poems she commissioned from poets across Britain - including the national poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, pictured - in celebration of  weddings and civil partnerships in all their forms. 

Other poets who have contributed include Scotland's new makar, Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay, Michael Longley, Andrew Motion, Carol Rumens, Wendy Cope, Roger McGough, and many more. 

Duffy, who was regarded by some as a breath of fresh air when she was appointed as laureate, had been facing her trickiest  task in the job in deciding how to respond to the royal nuptials without being criticised as as an establishment lackey, or producing a poem that fell far short of her usual tone and standard - a fate that has befallen some other laureates in the past. 

In introducing them Duffy said: "It seems timely to refresh and renew the unbreakable relationsip between love and poetry."