26) Post script to the Royal Wedding

In the end we couldn’t avoid watching the wedding as it seemed to be on all the UK channels at the same time, all of the time.  I must say, I thought William and Kate (whom I don’t really know, but everyone seems to call them by their christian names) did very well.  The thought of being on close up cameras, being watched by a billion people is enough to make anyone freak out (particularly if you knew lip-readers had been employed to check out anything you may say out of earshot).  What happens if you suddenly need a pee (or worse)?  Perhaps the geeks at Porton Down came up with some sort of imodium for bladders?  Or perhaps there was a stand in Kate-look-alike actress that took the part in the Abbey?

Kate’s sister looked very pretty, but they had wrecked her hair from when we saw her arriving at the hotel. Perhaps they did this so she didn’t outshine Kate (or the stand in actress) on the important day.

I thought the trees in the Abbey looked crap.  Whose idea was that?  I heard one reporter saying it brought a modern touch to the event.  It didn’t.  It just looked crap.  Gothic cathedrals are wonderful.  They can also look great with modern art in them ( Henry Moore in Salisbury, Sutherland in Chichester, or the Gormley in the crypt at Winchester), but trees just don’t work, they simply look crap.

I did feel a bit sorry for the RAF, though, with William choosing to wear an army colonel’s uniform.  Admittedly, it was a very striking red colour, and had much more pizazz than the T Mobile Utube version, which had William in RAF garb.  Then to add insult to injury, he had sown his RAF wings onto a sash.

I think there ought to be a sort of Royal uniform, which doesn’t have a connection to any of the forces.  Something perhaps like that of Black Rod, but with the addition of a crown.  Why no crowns?  Kate, who wasn’t even Royal until the “I do” bit had a tiara, but no crown for the Queen and not for the Prince either.  Shame.

Coverage in France built up to a bit of a crescendo on the actual day, but they dropped the story like a pomme de terre chaude the day after.  Back to normal now, with not much news about England (I think the recent election was just far too muddling for them).  Of course, the most famous Englishman over here is Arsen Wenger.