Round up the usual suspects
Got home early and watched the VIP guests being chauffeured to the Abbey via Horse Guards Parade, especially enjoying the sight of the minor royals travelling in a convoy of minibuses from Buckingham Palace.
Got quite tearful when I heard that the Queen will make the first ever state visit by a monarch to Ireland later this year. Such an immense thing given all the history. I pointed out to my daughter the significance of the commentator in chief being Welsh (and very good too) and one of the fashionistas Irish, as Wales and especially Scotland move seemingly inexorably towards independence and the joys of a presidential system.
Got quite tearful when I heard that the Queen will make the first ever state visit by a monarch to Ireland later this year. Such an immense thing given all the history. I pointed out to my daughter the significance of the commentator in chief being Welsh (and very good too) and one of the fashionistas Irish, as Wales and especially Scotland move seemingly inexorably towards independence and the joys of a presidential system.
Future queen?
Dress of the day for me had to go to Camilla, 'though Kate would look good in anything. A lot of men must be trying to get little sister Pippa's number. What a figure! (And cleavage on the maid of honour's dress was even deeper than on the bride's!)
Please, please, look at my sister!!
I thought the choice of lesson (from Romans) was interesting and original, so too the choice of the reader (brother James). I guess they reckoned Harry or another of Wills's armed forces or polo mates would have forgotten the words. My only criticism with his delivery was the unnatural pauses between "brothers" and "sisters" at the beginning, but otherwise excellent. Liked the Archbishop (what a voice - he would make a mint as a voiceover talent) but didn't go for the Bishop of London or his sermon very much.
This is worse than listening to father talking to his plants
Thought Kate already holds herself much better than William, who sat there slumped during the sermon as if he were listening to a colonel drone on in the regimental mess. She would seem to have more gumption. Is that why they broke up? (I'm assuming it was her doing - not being a subscriber of OK or Hello).
Present queen
Will be interested to hear what my little Royalist thought of the whole thing. (She watched at a friend's.) One thing Britain still does best. Those who say the Royal Family are a waste of money should consider how much tourism revenue it still rakes in, however strong their prejudice towards republicanism might be ...
Will be interested to hear what my little Royalist thought of the whole thing. (She watched at a friend's.) One thing Britain still does best. Those who say the Royal Family are a waste of money should consider how much tourism revenue it still rakes in, however strong their prejudice towards republicanism might be ...
17 comments:
Future queen?
Bride of Chucky?
Hi Ulaca --
Maybe you can answer this for me: why did Prince William wear the Irish Guards uniform rather than an RAF one? I know he's honorary colonel-in-chief of that regiment but wouldn't it have been more appropriate to wear the uniform of the part of the military that he's currently actively serving with?
Excellent, Edward. I'll subcontract out my caption writing to you from tomorrow, when the new minimum wage law comes into effect.
Yvonne, my brief reading around this topic on Telegraph online leads me to understand that it's mainly because of his gran's historic visit to the Republic of Ireland later this year. After that prime consideration had been taken into account, I think he was trying to keep everyone happy. Wills (and Harry) had previously served in the Blues and Royals (Army), even though Wills is now flying choppers for the RAF. His compromise included pinning his RAF wings on his Garter sash.
"Got quite tearful when I heard that the Queen will make the first ever state visit by a monarch to Ireland later this year."
I wasn't aware of this and it didn't really sink in for a while--the Queen going to the Republic of Ireland will be amazing, particularly since one of her stops will be at the Garden of Remembrance. For some people--like me--the Queen in Ireland will be a much bigger deal than than any number of weddings.
It is hard--impossible for me--not to respect the Queen. She simply seems to have done everything right for a very turbulent and I imagine personally upsetting fifty plus years.
The coverage of the wedding was huge in the USA--apparently a number of cable channels did nonstop royal wedding pre-game coverage for a week before the event. I don't own a television set so missed all that but a lot of people here were transfixed.
The House of Windsor is very popular in the United States . Perhaps some of the founders of the nation could have tried harder to convince George Washington to be the King of America.
One of the most touching images was the large American flag draped over the railings among the Union Flags outside the Abbey. Not as an assertion of republicanism but as a mark of respect and mutual understanding acrfoss differences.
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee next June will be quite something, I think.
Tourism revenue? That's a load of tosh. Brits have no idea what value they get for the money they pay for the royal family, and, for the most part, have no idea what the royal family do for the money. More tourists visit the old palace of Versailles (150 years after the French abolished their monarchy) than all the British royal palaces combined.
The idea that the royal family are single handedly responsible for the tourism revenue of the UK is mythology used to defend the indefensible.
It was a very nice wedding though. Seeing the two front rows at the Abbey, full of assorted plumed, fluffed and inbred royal members was something to behold. Maybe we should just keep them as the freak show they are.
Those Versailles figures are swollen by all those damned Brits who live in Paris, Normandy and bloody Dordogneshire.
Did you see "Prince" Charles wipe his nose on his fingers before shaking hands with guests at Westminster Abbey? Class, lur class.
Missed that, Foamie, but I saw him scratching his neck as close family proceeded to the chapel for the signing of the registers.
In response to the anonymous commenter of 6:02am, a number of points should be made. Firstly, the British royal palaces are still occupied, and therefore visiting times and visiting areas are restricted. Secondly, some of them are in remote locations (Sandringham and Balmoral). Thirdly, being in continental Europe, France receives more tourists than any other country in the world, so it is entirely to be expected that its largest palace near its main international airport will receive many visits.
From the Tower of London in the south to Edinburgh Castle in the north, via stately homes such as Blenheim and Castle Howard, the number of tourists attracted by Britain's royal heritage is more massive than mythic.
Anonymous 11:42
Britains royal heritage, the palaces and castles, would not disappear alongside the royal family. No other country in the world relies on a hereditary ruling family for their tourist revenue, and neither, in reality, does the UK. UKs tourism revenue would be unaffected by the absence of a royal family. That some in the UK ascribe this tourism revenue to the anachronism that is the royal family is, as I stated, mythology.
My simple questions here:
Why does the British Royal Wedding attract more attention internationally than other Royal Weddings in Europe?
The greater interest shown by the global community in the British royals rather than, say, those from Luxembourg or Scandinavia, can be put down to two things, Tapas: 1) the British Empire (God bless her) and 2) the sheer animal magnetism of Her Majesty's subjects.
The Brits are truly a superpower in the field of wedding planning. The bespoke costume military outfits were FABULOUS!
Wills had at least 3 outfits to choose from, so he must have been in a real fluster as his Big Day approached. He accessorised very nicely, I thought, with all those sashes and medals.
Pity he wasn't allowed a restroom stop in the church to comb his hair, 'though.
Tapas
like watching a train wreck or a freak show. Can't pull yourself away.....
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