William and Kate: The final word

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We had a day of crowds the other day with the royal wedding, but as I am writing this there are crowds in America celebrating the death of Bin Laden. Congratulations to the CIA and the Seals.

The British are not known for showing patriotism but royal births, deaths and marriages bring out their enthusiasm. Scots, Welsh and Irish all have their saints days which they celebrate. But England’s Saint George’s Day generally goes unnoticed except by churches which fly the English flag, a plain red cross on a white background. This apparent lack of pride is probably due to the fact that, in its heyday, the British Empire said all that was needed. But the Empire has gone and we need to resurrect our pride.

That is why the wedding of William and Kate caused such excitement. It once again connected the people with the monarchy, and not with politicians.

Buckingham Palace is renowned for its organizing abilities, which it will use again for President Obama’s state visit. The sorting out of invitations for 1900 guests for the wedding service must have been a daunting task. Protocol demands that all crowned heads of state are invited, including the King of Tonga; together with ambassadors, and high commissioners from the Commonwealth – but not elected presidents! Fitting them all into the nooks and crannies of Westminster Abbey, acknowledging each guest’s importance, was a miracle, as was the planning of arrival times so that everybody was seated in time. Various members of the government were tucked away behind the choir. One thing which pleased some people was that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, previous Prime Ministers under a Labour government, who were responsible, in my opinion, for the near destruction of Britain, were not invited.

Then there was the staging of the buffet reception for six hundred guests and the evening dinner dance for three hundred, which the Queen skipped by leaving Buckingham Palace for somewhere quieter.

As for the ceremony itself it was arranged to reflect traditional Britain. The hymns were old favorites, including Jerusalem which has been banned by many vicars for its perceived militancy – chariots of fire and arrows of desire. The music was English. The only jarring note was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s untidy beard, which is normal for him. The bride was the first commoner to marry an heir to the throne in 350 years and probably will not be the last. She was gorgeous and seemed to be more relaxed than the groom. It was obvious during their recital of the vows that they were struggling to prevent themselves from collapsing into laughter, which would have been a disaster in closeup. Another major player was the bride’s twenty seven year old sister, who looked gorgeous in a plain white dress: as maid of honor she managed the long train with aplomb. Amidst all the panoply, during the sermon there were two nuns dressed in somber grey sitting next to the Prince resplendent in the bright scarlet Irish Guards uniform. It is a tradition in this sort of ceremony that any military officer will wear uniform.

After the wedding everybody headed for Buckingham Palace for the appearance of the main characters on the balcony. The police did an excellent job of escorting the crowd to the palace. They formed a barrier in front of the crowd and walked slowly down the Mall towards the palace to prevent a mad rush which would inevitably have resulted in some deaths with people tripping over and being crushed. There were apparently one million people outside the palace, some of whom had camped on the pavements for several days beforehand.

After the reception the newly wedded Duke and Duchess of Cambridge drove away in the Prince of Wales’s open-topped Aston Martin suitably decorated by Prince Harry, including a rear number plate reading JU5WED – that was probably illegal but forgiven.

All in all it was a fun day.
 

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12 years ago

As the late, great, British comedian Les Dawson once said…

“I remember my wedding as if it was yesterday…I wish it was tomorrow instead so I could cancel it”…;-)

Men don’t really ‘do’ wedings…we just pretend to…it keeps the women happy…;-)

Actually…Pippa Middleton is a BABE!!!!

As dysfunctional families go…the Windsors must continue…otherwise we might end up with a President Blair…

YUK!

JackieMackey
12 years ago

I was glued to it on my TV from 4.30am all day long, loved it.

12 years ago

Glad you enjoyed your day Daniel, let’s hope their marriage doesn’t go the way of William’s parents.

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