Royal Wedding Watching

I got my first practise run at royal marathons in the womb, quite literally, when my heavily pregnant mum watched the Coronation. Forty years later she was still complaining that the whole event had taken far too long.

I watched Princess Margaret’s wedding to society photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones in 1960 in the days when such events were in monochrome and the intrusive zoom lens was reined in more.

I can’t remember much about it now, apart from a traumatic episode when I escaped into our shared garden for a break. The ferocious Miss Wines who lived on the ground floor in the house where I grew up in London caught me picking petals off the flowers and gave me a right royal telling off.

By 1963 I was there with my popcorn in front of the TV again to watch the marriage of Princess Alexandra and Angus Ogilvy. With so many young Royals the future looked promising, plenty of weddings on the horizon.

Newly married myself I booked a day off work to watch Princess Anne marry Capt. Mark Phillips in 1973. By this time I had sat through the investiture of the Prince of Wales and the Sound of Music so I was well practised in the long haul view.

Anne’s marriage ended in divorce 19 years later, mine lasted considerably shorter. Perhaps they are not so different from the rest of us after all. While we all think money and things will make our partners more loveable, our relationships more rewarding, they don’t seem to do any better either.

And after all the hours of film coverage, the newspaper supplements and the photographs, what chance does William and Kate have of making a go of their marriage?

In contrast to Diana on her wedding day, Kate looked confident and ‘grown up.’ Public affection seems determined to force her into the Diana role but hopefully she has the character to resist this and to find her own niche instead. Luckily, William seems to have inherited all the best aspects of both his parents.

So who will be the next to tie the knot? The crowds are cheering for a Prince Harry/Pippa Middleton match, but that’s unlikely to happen. Princess Beatrice’s wedding should be a laugh though, but for all the wrong reasons. I’m looking forward to that one already.

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