WEEKEND | 10:24 pm | January 2, 2012 | By Gavan Gideon

Franklin to wed in summer 2012

Honorary degree recipient Aretha Franklin performs at President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Honorary degree recipient Aretha Franklin performs at President Barack Obama's inauguration. Photo by Wikimedia Commons.

Honorary degree recipient Aretha Franklin is back on the freeway of love.

The 20-time Grammy winner told the Associated Press Monday that she is engaged to “longtime friend” William “Willie” Wilkerson. Franklin and Wilkerson are thinking about a ceremony in Miami Beach sometime this summer, followed by a reception on a private yacht, she told the AP.

Franklin attended Yale’s 2010 commencement ceremony to receive an honorary doctor of music. In his remarks at the ceremony, University President Richard Levin praised Franklin’s widespread cultural and musical influence.

“We know royalty when we see it,” Levin said. “And you are the Queen of Soul.”

Wilkerson will be the Queen’s third husband.

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