When it comes to pomp and pageantry, nobody does it quite like the Brits. The English capital gears up for the wedding of the century on April 29
When it comes to pomp and pageantry, nobody does it quite like the Brits. The English capital gears up for the wedding of the century on April 29
LETTERu00a0FROMu00a0LONDON By Amit Roy
You play football, we play footsie: Prince William and Kate Middleton
u00a0meet players from a local youth football team during a visit to Witton
Country Park in Darwen, Lancashire, where the couple were undertaking
their last joint official engagement before the wedding
Who can forget the heart-rending spectacle of the princes William and Harry, then 15 and 11, walking, heads bowed but still dignified, behind their mother's coffin after she was killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997? The boys were staying at Balmoral in Scotland with their father and the Queen and Prince Philip. It fell to Charles to creep into William's bedroom in the early hours of the morning and break the terrible news to his elder son. Together, they woke up Harry and told him what had happened. Whatever Diana's differences with Charles, which had led to their divorce in 1996, no one doubted she was a good mother who adored her sons.
I'M ALREADY HERE: Early bird John Loughrey, aged 56 from South London,
stakes his position in front of Westminster Abbey
Anger
Since as part of the divorce settlement, Diana had been stripped of her 'HRH' (Her Royal Highness) prefix, a groundswell of genuine anger swept the country after her death. A mountain of flowers piled up outside Kensington and Buckingham Palaces almost as gestures of defiance against the monarchy. Much of the mounting fury was directed against the Queen and Prince Philip who must have feared for the long-term future of the monarchy. Though this was against tradition, the Royal standard was lowered over Buckingham Palace. Men and women, who had never met Diana or perhaps even seen her, felt a sense of personal loss at her passing. Something changed, perhaps even broke in Britain, with Diana's death. In time, Charles married again, even though some still hold his second wife, the former Mrs. Camilla Parker-Bowles and now the Duchess of Cornwall, responsible in some way for the unravelling of Diana's marriage - Diana had made that devastating comment in a TV interview that, "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded".
Affectionate
Fast forward 14 years and that same William has grown up into a young man well over six-feet tall. He and Harry are close to their father and seem also to be on affectionate terms with Camilla. She was the one who offered advice to Diana when she was about to marry Charles. Now, Camilla has taken Kate Middleton under her wing but this time her efforts seem genuinely well intentioned. Recent history indicates few of the royals have been lucky in love, but so far as anyone can tell at this early stage, Kate and William seem well matched.
Over the past decade and a half, many of the old wounds have healed, so that the royal wedding offers an opportunity to modernise the monarchy and yet retain some of the magic of the old. Without the magic, it would be a doomed institution or as inconsequential as most of the royal families in Europe. Many of them are perfectly decent and hardworking but the world would be hard put to name many or any of them.
Desi whirl: Indians have been pouring into London, prior to the wedding.
'That's me, Mummy, in front of the main Buckingham Palace gates'
Pomp
To be sure, there are pockets in the population, which display either Republican sympathies or indifference but there is nothing like a royal wedding to give the British a sense of who they are. Economically, the country is passing through bad times and yet, when it comes to pomp and circumstance, the British are in a class of their own. Britain is no longer the global power it was nor does it pretend to be one but it realises that as April 29 approaches, the eyes of the world will be very much on London. One cannot help but feel that if the attention to detail that is being lavished on the wedding could be applied to getting the economy right, this country would not be in trouble.
Ceremonial
On Friday, the world will see Britain dressed up to look its best. It will be a thrilling experience to see William and Kate - sadly, she is being transformed into a less natural "Catherine" - emerge from Westminster Abbey and travel in the state landau accompanied by 150 cavalry riding in unison. As Indian president Pratibha Patil discovered when she was given a ceremonial welcome at Windsor during her state visit to the UKu00a0 in 2009, no one does it quite like the Brits.
Aesthetics and calisthenics: Srichand Hinduja lives near Buckingham
Palace and can admire the flowers and do his early morning exercises
in front of the Palace
Blood
When Kate and William arrive at Buckingham Palace after their wedding, they will be welcomed in the forecourt by the Band of the Welsh Guards. Major Steve Barnwell, who will lead with his ceremonial mace, said, "We are the envy of the world for pomp and ceremony for state occasions. It's in our blood." One commentator said, "Two billion people around the world are expected to watch the wedding. Here in Britain, we shall also be watching ourselves, as we engage in a communal experience that has nothing to do with Whitehall or Town Hall, and everything to do what we are, how we got here and where we are going."
Gentility
The Queen is in good health and will celebrate the diamond jubilee of her reign next year but she is 85. Poor Charles, now 62, has remained an heir longer than anyone else and, barring the unforeseen, King William V will succeed him as monarch one day.u00a0
Regent Regalia: Bunting hangs along Regent Street, London, in
celebration of the forthcoming royal wedding
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BACKGROUND
There has been some concern that Kate's background is not aristocratic enough. The British are even more obsessed about class than Indians about caste. "Kate Middleton does represent something new - but people are getting hung up on the wrong things," insists the historian David Starkey. "I don't think the fact that her great-grandparents were Durham miners, or her mother was an air hostess, are historically significant. People from such backgrounds have married into noble circles. Ever since the 19th century, public schools have been a gateway to gentility. The most positive thing of all is that William and Catherine are equals, which really is the new thing." As people file into Westminster Abbey on Friday morning, "I think it's important for people to remember that this wedding isn't just froth," observes Starkey. "It's much more interesting than that. Monarchy is about family, about succession, therefore marriage is absolutely essential. And love? Ah, well, that's not essential as we have seen. But it's nice when it happens, isn't it?"
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Diana
Today, in the shy way that he sometimes looks and in his ability to touch people, people do detect something of Diana in William. She will be there with him, in the way Indians believe loving parents can keep a kindly eye on their children after they are gone. William, who gave Diana's engagement ring to Kate, does not talk about his mother in public anymore. But in one interview he did admit, "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about her."
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