What a wonderful day !
British pagentry is sublime. My wife summed it up at one moment as the couple rode back to Buckingham Palace in their open carriage. “Just look at that wonderful picture, one woman in white in a gold and gilt carriage, surrounded by all those men on black horses, in shining armour, helmets and plumes, and the liveried grooms on the carriage’s horses and the postillions behind.”
I’m not uploading any photos because it seems unlikely that anyone reading this anywhere in the world will not have seen such images and much, much more, today.
And the music. We adore trumpet fanfares, and there was “Jerusalem” and Walton’s stirring “Crown Imperial” as they walked out of the cathedral. If I have any criticism of the BBC coverage, it is that we did not hear enough of the music, and that they closed the broadcast with a cheesy pop song over the best clips of the day. Walton would have been much classier.
It’s not the sort of thing we usually do, but I think we will buy the DVD of the wedding so that we can hear the music properly – and of course for those moments like Harry looking over his shoulder at Kate coming up the aisle and making a quick quip to William – “don’t worry, she is coming” or something else brotherly like that.
We attended a small “wedding party” with a handful of old friends, glued to the big TV screen while eating first scrambled eggs with smoked salmon (proceedings had very much started by the time we got to north London at 10 a.m.), later a lovely lunch, and toasting the couple in champagne.
We were impressed by Kate’s cheerful calmness through. She seemed amazingly unruffled by the enormity of the occasion, though she did clearly said”Oh, wow!” when she stepped out on to the balcony of Buckingham Palace and looked down the Mall packed with people as far as she could see. I have suspected for some time that that might be the moment of single impact of what she has now become.
During the service, we thought that William seemed more nervous than she did. “That’s normal with husbands at their wedding,” said my ever-wise wife, echoed by the other women present.
It was, of course, the bride’s day, but she could almost have been upstaged by her willowy sister in quite the most stunning dress of the whole occasion. Lucky that they are apparently very close ….
The second littlest bridesmaid had us in hysterics. She was tired and grumpy, and clearly didn’t like all the noise. She had probably been over-excited the night before, hadn’t slept until late and must have been woken early. In a few years time those pictures will embarrass her, until she grows old enough to see the funny side. Full marks, however, to the other girls and the two page boys.
And full marks to three of Williams’ helicopter crew, interviewed by the BBC, telling it how it is as a search and rescue helicopter pilot “putting his life on the line every time he goes on a mission” and how he is such an integral part of the team there.
It has been made clear how much input William and Kate had in organising their wedding, and the closing touch, with him driving his father’s Aston Martin decorated in traditional ribbons and balloons down the Mall was very much “new generation royals.” As was his impromptu walk-about the evening before to greet the crowds already lining the Mall. I have no reason to disbelieve his press secretary who said it was a spur of the moment idea when William and Harry looked out of the windows of Clarence House.
Without trying to be presumptuous, the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge do really seem like a most likeable young couple.
And I imagine that as I write, they are enjoying their best man’s speech – which I would love to hear reports of, but I doubt we will -before a tremendous party. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh left Buck House to them for the party, retreating to Windsor Sandringham, and as one TV commentator said, “coming back on Monday to see what damage the kids did…”
I walked in the door and happened to turn on the TV just as still-Kate was stepping out of the hotel, so it seemed like fate and I watched the whole thing with great enjoyment. Later in the park the other women dog walkers said they’d watched it all (broadcast with Russian translation an hour or two later), and we all happily oohed and ahed. Our dog walking circle especially liked the Lord Bishop’s homily on marriage. The Russians were very moved by the prayer they wrote. We thought the Queen looked very happy, that the couple seemed genuinely down-to-earth (not easy to achieve!), and wished we had horses and livery and gold and fanfares. We loved the dress. We sniped at a few of the hats. BTW, lip readers say that Harry said something like: Wait til you see this! when Kate appeared.
I know it’s mind-bogglingly expensive and all the rest… but it was magnificent!
So glad you enjoyed it as much as we did. The only downside was the outfits worn by the daughters of the Duke of York – that extraordinary brown hat composed of circles, and the noxious Viviane Westwood dress the other daughter wore. But then they get their taste from their mother ….
Interesting that the main comment I’ve heard since has been been that William and Kate seem to be bringing a really good, modern style to the monarchy while keeping the best of the traditions.
In Russia, there is a bit of sadness over the loss of traditions. People don’t want a monarch again, but they are sad that their cultural heritage was destroyed. Much of it really can’t be revived — it’s just gone.
So we really liked the wedding. Besides, we really enjoyed a chance to sneer at those hats. Those cousins were just appallingly dressed! Bad make up, too.
Wickedly,
mab
Somewhere I saw some jerky footage of the coronation of Tsar Nicolas, and read the semi-fictional account by Boris Akunin in one of the Fandorin books, and they certainly could do grandoise ceremony then. I can see why it is missed. Massed ranks of Pioneers with knotted red scarves in Red Square wasn’t the same …
I suppose the nearest now, though in a much different context, is the revived Orthodox services.
The problem with the “revived” Orthodox services is that only a very, very, VERY small part of the population actually partakes and knows what’s going on. For all that everyone wears a cross and defines themselves as an Orthodox Christian, people really lost the knowledge of church traditions. For example, it’s now “a tradition” to visit cemeteries on the Saturday before Easter and Easter day. But this has never been an Orthodox or Russian tradition, and in fact from the church’s point of view, it’s totally inappropriate.
Although one Easter tradition is practiced and fun: on Saturday before Easter you bring your basket or bag of Easter treats — colored eggs, a round sweet bread called kulich and a mound of what’s called paskha (made of pot cheese, eggs, cream, and sweets) to be blessed. The churches put out tables, you put out your treats and light a candle on the kulich, and the priest says a prayer and then sprays holy water on the treats and people. At my local church there was a long line to get in, and at the end of the day the priest — who’d been doing this for about 6 hours — was getting a bit silly. It was very colorful — all those red and pastel eggs! — and festive.
So when the traditions are taken away from the people, they invent new ones ! Wiki says the Eastern Rite has at least seven such occasions, three in Lent, so near Easter but not over the Easter days. And apparently not linked with the Roman tradition of visiting cemeteries on All Soul’s Day on Nov. 2.
Most people in the UK self-identify as Christians even if they have never been observant. It’s more a cultural heritage thing. Except for the hundreds of thousands who in the last census but one (we just had one, results still to come) said they were followers of the Jedi philosophy …
I loved watching the grumpy little bridesmaid too.