A royal wedding

Earlier today, I was one of the 2 billion or so worldwide who followed the royal wedding between William and Kate (now known as Catherine), now both known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The last royal wedding was that between his parents, Charles and Diana, and, although everyone on the planet knows of that ill-fated wedding, I was not "involved" since I was not born yet. This time round, not only was I born but I was actually in London at the time of the wedding.

The engagement came around last November as far as I remember and since then all of London burst into the sale of 1001 items related to the royal couple: cards, mugs, plates, T shirts, masks, flags and, erm, condoms. It is unbelievable how much people try to make money out of, literally, everything. Probably people made £1000s by betting on how the weather will be; after 2 or 3 weeks of sun, there were predictions of light showers on the day (these failed to appear, much to the relief of the organisers!)

The day of the wedding was declared a bank holiday, quite convenient after the Monday bank holiday after Easter and the bank holiday next Monday. Initially, I was very tempted to go to the heart of the event around Westminster Abbey and/or Buckingham Palace, but I soon changed my mind. Thankfully. Around 1,000,000 people crowded the streets where the procession took place on the day and another 300,000 flooded Hyde Park to watch the event on big screens. I hate crowds! Two London New Year's Eves were sufficient and this time I preferred to watch the do on TV, like the other 2,000,000,000 worldwide. The only bit I could hear live were the planes passing over Buckingham Palace when the couple came out in the balcony; it would have been impossible not to hear that magnificent roaring sound!

What was impressive during the whole thing was the sheer precision of the whole affair. With impeccable British timing, all maneuvers were spot on, with carriages and cars and all departing and arriving exactly as planned, following a schedule depicting ridiculous times such as 10:51 for the departure of the car of so-and-so and the arrival of the same at 10:57. The whole escort and later the horse-drawn drive was an example of British pageantry at its best. These people really love all the pomp and ceremony! I doubt that there will ever be a time when the monarchy will cease to exist.

It was also remarkable how traditional and contemporary schools of thought merged: the new Duchess herself is not of royal blood, her dress not of the 8m length Diana had wore but a mere 2m, the less important guests escorted in mini vans and the Abbey was decorated with trees, transforming it into a forest-like venue and Kate did not vow to obey the future monarch and so on. Simplicity and sophistication, the royal and the ordinary, the magical and the practical.

Although I have no ardent personal affection for the royalists and the British royal family, I sincerely trust that the new couple may find happiness in their new life and the pressures which the Prince's mother succumbed to may be a thing of the past.

I may not have been there but, nonetheless, in some 30 odd years, when another royal wedding takes place, I would be glad to say that I was in London on the previous royal wedding, on the day when King William and Queen Catherine got married, on 29th April 2011.