Royal Wedding - William and Kate

[Rían]

OK, I'll start it, if only to say -

what amazing hats!!!!! I loved all of those hats!! Such fun and inventiveness!

Now as far as the main event - well, the Brits know how to put on shows, and it was nice. The Middletons did well, no one tripped (although why the girls of today insist on those long hems I don't know - I'd put them up by half an inch so they don't have to kick the dress out of the way - did you notice Pippa's little side-hip-roll when she had her hands full of the train and couldn't lift up her own skirt?).

I loved the trees in the Abbey - now why didn't my florist come up with that? ("Roses, gardenias - now would you like a few trees, too?" ) It was nice but not too over-the-top, and I bet the security people breathed a huge sigh of relief when they got back into the palace.

The tiny little bridesmaid with the dark hair and bangs was my favorite

And it's incredible how much Wills looks like his mum! Kate having Diana's ring was nice.

[Rían]

and such a contrast - Diana was a very innocent 19, and Kate is a very capable late-20s. And it looks like William basically chose for love, although he certainly had to keep his job in mind. Such a contrast to Charles and his "whatever love is" and his long-standing mistress

Anyway, fun to tape and skip past all of the boring parts, although my favorite part was watching the guests come in and see all of those amazing hats!

[GrayMouser]

As a Canadian, to my future monarch and his lovely bride:

Best wishes for a long and happy marriage.

Now get off my TV.

NOW!!!!

And somebody should issue a Royal Proclamation to have Richard Quest hung, drawn and quartered.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

And somebody should issue a Royal Proclamation to have Richard Quest hung, drawn and quartered.

lulz


So the wedding was fun to watch, hats and all. But still...
I understand it should be all solemn and proper and traditional. But the wedding ceremony wasn't exactly exciting. And what of the music? Why only hymns? Even the newly written songs sounded like they were a hundred years old.

Gotta say, last year's royal wedding in Stockholm was more entertaining to watch

[Midge]

I only watched the recap this evening - I was too busy with things like "sleep" when the wedding actually happened. However, I did enjoy seeing the hats, and because I watched the recap with some young boys around, I got to chuckle at them commenting that Princess Diana looked like a cotton ball getting out of a car. Her dress might have been a LITTLE poofy.

Kate's wedding dress was divine - I loved the very defined waist and the lace... She's a very pretty woman.

Also - I noted that the recap made a point to say that Kate followed in the footsteps of Diana in that they both chose not to include the word "obey" in their vows. Does anybody other than me find the fact that it was mentioned interesting? (not the fact that it happened, but that the recap said something)... doesn't seem like many people today would care about that.

That's pretty much my take on things. It looked like a lovely affair and I so very much hope that their relationship doesn't end badly like many other royal relationships have.

Good night and happy marriage, if Prince William or (Princess?) Kate manages to frequent these boards... wouldn't that be a twist?

[Rían]

Speaking of hats - Princess Beatrice's eye makeup and hat was described as a mating between a raccoon and an octopus ...

Poor Andrew's kids - their cousins got the looks ...

[Mari]

I think she's pretty enough, but someone really should have told her that hat looks like a pair of antlers on her forehead...
And Princess Kathryn as she's now called wore a beautiful dress, but I don't think she's beautiful.

It was a nice ceremony and I loved the trees (I do love hymns, so that was no pro for me), but it was all very organised. Not very spontaneous. When Willem-Alexander and Maxima married, there was some interaction with the public, a laugh, a tear and a very nice kiss-scene. It seemed less directed.

[Earniel]

But then very few European royal houses have the -how to call it- the looseness (if that's a word) that the Dutch royal house has.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Gotta say, last year's royal wedding in Stockholm was more entertaining to watch

I thought so as well. For one thing, far more of it was covered by TV - the speeches at the dinner, the cutting of the cake, the beginning of the dancing - none of that was covered this time. Perhaps they made it more of a private affair because William is not the Heir Apparent. But Norway did it differently, more like Sweden, with our two most recent Royal Weddings.

Originally Posted by Midge

It looked like a lovely affair and I so very much hope that their relationship doesn't end badly like many other royal relationships have.

Good night and happy marriage, if Prince William or (Princess?) Kate manages to frequent these boards... wouldn't that be a twist?

I share your hope. At least they have had time to become friends and to get to know each other well, and to think things over before they committed themselves - that should give them a better start.
She is Duchess Kate - so far she hasn't been given the title of Princess, just Duchess of Cambridge.

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Speaking of hats - Princess Beatrice's eye makeup and hat was described as a mating between a raccoon and an octopus ...

I see their point ...

[GrayMouser]

Yeah, she doesn't get the title of Princess until William becomes Prince of Wales.

It's a hard title to reach- you either have to be a daughter of a King or Queen or married to a prince.

Willy was made Duke on the day of the wedding so Kate wouldn't end up being a lowly commoner.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Yeah, she doesn't get the title of Princess until William becomes Prince of Wales.

He is already Prince William of Wales - and I assume that he will one day become William, Prince of Wales.
But they may decide to make Kate a Princess even before that, if they so choose.

It's a hard title to reach- you either have to be a daughter of a King or Queen or married to a prince.

And if you are a daughter, you cannot have any brothers. But they are considering changing that, as some other monarchies have done.

Willy was made Duke on the day of the wedding so Kate wouldn't end up being a lowly commoner.

His uncles were also given titles on their wedding days. Andrew was made Duke of York, and Edward was made Earl of Wessex.

[Midge]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Speaking of hats - Princess Beatrice's eye makeup and hat was described as a mating between a raccoon and an octopus ...

Yes, the NBC recap described it as resembling a pretzel and the blue one they said looked like a bird, but I didn't see that as much.

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Yeah, she doesn't get the title of Princess until William becomes Prince of Wales.

It's a hard title to reach- you either have to be a daughter of a King or Queen or married to a prince.

Willy was made Duke on the day of the wedding so Kate wouldn't end up being a lowly commoner.

Wow, that's extremely complicated... I feel very uninformed, over here in Amur'ca where we don't have inherited titles... You don't really have to know how the system works, but we also don't have any knights either... *sigh*

[Nerdanel]

i tried to stay away from this whole thing as much as i could, but it's really hard. it was everywhere! every damned news channel (apart from al jazeera, gotta love them, even if they did mention the wedding ) had the wedding on the front page, above all the actual news about people being killed, decisions being made and demonstrations spreading. X) the guardian had a great idea, though, where you could hide all the wedding news with just one click.

i saw one great tweet, though, where they were saying that it was good that the wedding wasn't in france, because kate would've been arrested for wearing a face veil.

[GrayMouser]

Yeah, it's complicated

from Wiki:

As a British prince, William does not use a surname for everyday purposes. For formal and ceremonial purposes, the children of Princes of Wales, like the children of Royal Dukes, use the title of Prince or Princess before their Christian name and their father's territorial designation after it. So Prince William was "Prince William of Wales". Such area-based surnames are discarded by women when they marry and by men if they are given a peerage of their own,[72] such as when Prince William was given his dukedom.

Varnafinde said:

He is already Prince William of Wales - and I assume that he will one day become William, Prince of Wales.
But they may decide to make Kate a Princess even before that, if they so choose.

No, with things like titles they don't get to choose-nowadays, anyway

Not like the good old days when everyone with a pretty daughter (or a pretty son, for some of them) to hand over to the king as a mistress could get to be a Duke.

And if you are a daughter, you cannot have any brothers. But they are considering changing that, as some other monarchies have done.

There I was referring to the title of princess.

The Japanese Imperial family has a big problem coming up with the next generation- no boys in any close relation.

[Mari]

That's not true. The second prince has a son who will be the next emperor after the two princes die.
They were moving to change the law so Aiko could become empress, but that movement grounded to an abrupt halt when her male cousin was born.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

No, with things like titles they don't get to choose-nowadays, anyway

I should have said that the Queen may do it, if she so chooses. They certainly don't get to choose for themselves - but I think the monarch has more freedom to choose.

Not like the good old days when everyone with a pretty daughter (or a pretty son, for some of them) to hand over to the king as a mistress could get to be a Duke.

Those were the days ... Nowadays the Queen can make anyone "Sir" so and so (which is not something his descendants will inherit), but I believe there are limits as to whom she can make a Duke.

There I was referring to the title of princess.

I see - I meant Princess of Wales.
There is indeed room for several other Princesses.

[Grey_Wolf]

Me and mum sat all day in front of the telly watching Danish TV's coverage of the Wedding. It was terrific.

[The Gaffer]

As a long-time republican, I have to say this generation of Royals seems a lot more clued up than the last one. The Queen has been excellent and I would vote for her over any current politician if we were allowed to vote for our head of state.

Essentially what we Brits require of our Royals is for them to keep their gobs shut and look fabulous in a uniform. Both Princes delivered on the latter, and William seems to have got his head around the former.

Allied to the fact that they are both useful: William an air-sea rescue pilot, Harry a squaddie - and you have something you can actually respect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT52H...eature=related

Huzzah!

[BeardofPants]

Too bad Charles is a dork, but you can't win 'em all, eh?

[Rían]

I think his sons learned from him... (i.e., from watching the reaction to him). To be fair to Charles, he seemed to be at the crossroads - I don't think there were complaints about any other royal before him not having a "real" job. People are just living longer nowadays, and the Prince-in-waiting never had this silly long wait that Charles has had.

Anyway, yeah, the Queen seems like a conscientious worker. I like the story about how she bought the fabric for her wedding dress with ration coupons. Nice gesture.

Anyway, I'm glad Diana's boys are making themselves useful 'round the place! Let's see what Kate ends up doing.