Royal Wedding in 60 Seconds - and the Balcony Kiss

From ABC News in America is this video - Royal Wedding in 60 Seconds -

I wonder what King George III (last King of America!) would have made of it all. A man of great passion, who was persuaded not to marry his great love Lady Sarah Lennox ("I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation," he wrote, "and consequently must often act contrary to my passions."). Also a man of great virility it seems. He fathered nine sons and six daughters with Queen Charlotte, to whom he became happily married. If he'd come up with a show like that of yesterday and one for each of the 15 children, General Washington might have stayed put in Mount Vernon!

Cartwheeling verger, Uncle Gary, Boris, Becks and Pippa too!

Uncle Gary in the posh clobber

There are certain events where it pays to have a second look. The Royal Wedding all looked so fantastic on the "live" event. But for the "extras" you had to wait for the recorded bits. That's when the digitally-enhanced computer geeks of the media give their presenters something juicy to talk about.

Jon Snow was quite taken with the cartwheeling verger. And who can blame the guy for a bit of exuberance. The Abbey must have been under all sorts of pressure to get it right on the day. They got it right and it must have felt great. If you are a verger and you can do cartwheels, Westminster Abbey is a very good place to thank God for your talent!

Talking of talents there are plenty in the Middleton/Goldsmith clan. I see James Middleton is into cakes. His mother is a party favours supplier. Pippa Middleton is a 57 a second Tweet gatherer. Michael Middleton is top of every father's list for his talented bride-giving-away technique. I thought he was great!

But what of Uncle Gary Goldsmith. Carole must have had double-minded thoughts on that one. What to do with brother Gary? The Daily Mail describes him as a black sheep of the family. Well, haven't we all had one in a generation or two. I certainly have. Not like Gary, though. He's got tattoos that look like a stamp collection. And he lives in a house in Spain called 'La Maison de Bang Bang'. Very tasteful. He seems to have a talent for creating wealth in a way that the press find curiously interesting. Oh, and he rather crudely called William a f****r on first meeting him.

Boris Johnson is taking the cuts seriously. He hired his morning suit apparently. You can't win in the sartorial game. If he'd owned a suit that fitted he'd be got at for being a toff. Samantha Cameron is twitted for not wearing a hat. I didn't know hat wearing was compulsory for women at weddings. By the way, I thought Ed Miliband and Justine looked very good. Why spoil it all by listening to those dears on the front bench and turning up in your day clothes.

Gorgeous! Simply gorgeous!

David Beckham spruces up well. He needs advice, though, on medal wearing. And I couldn't help but smile at how pleased Elton John looked with just being there. Three times at least he was shown by the BBC and each time he looked like a cat admiring a bowl of cream.

A great day all round. The German newspaper Bild was bemoaning the fact that Germany doesn't have a royal family. Well, they could have but they locked their royals up in their castles and were nasty to them. And I don't include the Kaiser in that. King Simeon of Bulgaria and King Michael of Romania were there, as was King Constantine. Maybe the European Commission could have a Be Nice To Kings Day?

It was right to have the day off. A public holiday for people to mix, match and make merry. If Nick Clegg had any worries about social mobility then he can forget them. Yesterday we got social mobility in all directions!


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381827/Royal-Wedding-2011-Kate-Middletons-naughty-uncle-Gary-Goldsmith-cleans-act.html#ixzz1L0XWKROL

Royal Wedding Day

Royal Wedding Watcher

Two billion people will be watching the Royal Wedding on television. Staggering thought. I've also thought of those hardy souls in California and the West Coast. Have they stayed up late or got up early? I see Tara Palmer-Tomkinson has been invited and her hat as well. The weather looks like it may just about hold out. Any foreigner who is watching and is thinking of England and April showers can be assured that this April has been spectacularly sunny and warm. Maybe global warming has some benefits. John Redwood said he hoped this was a plus side of it and he seems to have had his wish fulfilled this month. The weather forecasters change their predictions on a daily basis now. Yesterday Solihull was being prescribed "white cloud" for today, yet now it is supposed to be "sunny intervals". London will get similar sunny spells. This has been the pattern throughout April. I get the impression we are being given gloomy weather predictions by the forecasters and God is shining on their parade.

Anyway, come rain or shine, the crowds out in the streets won't be bothered. It's a great day to day. I liked the bubbly comments a young woman from Kentucky, camped out on a vantage point. She gave the lowdown on the day to a BBC reporter. He then passed the microphone to a lugubrious Englishman who commented "she knows more about it than I do!". "She's American", was the BBC man's retort.

Great interest around the world. Wow!

Royal Wedding - obeying commands

The Royal Wedding is only a day away now. It's the best show in town and has put paid to the alternative show next week! Even if some may not be bothered, there's always something for everyone in a royal event like a marriage. This time it includes the guest list, the ancestors (not on the guest list!) and the campers-out.  Oh, and that little word "obey".

As Syria is exploding in bloodshed and acrimony, it was a bit much for the royal couple to have to smile sweetly at the Syrian Ambassador as they leave the Abbey. The Buckingham Palace courtiers say they were obeying protocol by inviting him. Others thought differently and politics trumped protocol. The courtiers obeyed and the ambassador had his invitation withdrawn. No withdrawal of invitations to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. They were not invited in the first place. Can't think why anyone would imagine they should have been. Jack Straw puffed himself up with indignation. The protocol here was that they weren't Knights of the Garter so that was the rule being obeyed.

The Royal Wedding has its very own website, under the domain name of Official Royal Wedding 2011. Interesting FAQs. The tabloid press should read up on them. Already they are suggesting Princess Catherine but she does not become a princess purely by marriage. This title is in the gift of the Queen. Officially she will be Princess William of Wales, but that won't wear well on the front page of The Sun. Probably a royal dukedom will be dusted off for immediate use. Then she will be a Duchess commonly known as Princess Kate.

A genealogist has unearthed a link between Prince William and the Middletons. But William's Middletons are not apparently Kate's Middletons. The Middleton in question was John Middleton, who, one night in 1674, "befuddled with drink", fell downstairs and he died from his injuries. Middleton is described as a "hard-drinking ruffian" and "notorious". Catherine Middleton has a few choice ancestors too, including Edward Thomas Glassborow, an ancestor of Miss Middleton's father, Michael, who was listed as an inmate at Holloway Prison in London in the 1881 census.

In every marriage of significant public interest that is officiated within the Church of England much is said of the word obey. This wedding is no exception. In modern parlance the word is taken to mean complying with instructions of a person in authority, such as an army officer or policeman. So it is little wonder that Miss Middleton has declined to "obey" her husband. Yet that was never the intention in the first place. In a religious context it simply means to listen because the Latin is oboedire. It could hardly be a Christian marriage based on mutual understandings if "Wilt thou obey him" gave carte blanche to the husband to insist on twenty things being done before breakfast!

Anyway, she won't be obeying him, but she looks every inch the listener so all's well in that department I suggest. And tomorrow will be here very soon.