by The Laird o’Thistle
May 14 2010
Well, a few days ago a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of King William IV drove up to Buckingham Palace (a building his royal ancestor despised and wanted to give to Parliament) to “kiss hands” with his fifth cousin, twice removed, Queen Elizabeth II. And now he is the new Prime Minister. It’s a long relational stretch between the Queen and her PM – not to mention its having started out for the Cameron lineage on the “wrong side of the blanket” – but David Cameron’s family has circulated in the royal orbit much more recently. His granduncle, Duff Cooper, was part of the late Duke of Windsor’s circle around the time of the abdication crisis, and then transitioned into friendship with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The new Prime Minister himself started out at the same school as the young Prince Edward, three years behind him. It seems they were even in a school play together which the Queen attended… probably the only time a British monarch has ever seen a future PM dressed up as a bunny!
It will be interesting to see how Prime Minister Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg work out the electoral reform issue. It would be nice if they also turned their attention to unraveling other constitutional conundrums left by Labor’s fits and starts at things such as reforming the House of Lords.
Meanwhile, speculation is increasing that David Cameron’s seventh cousin, Prince William, may finally be ready to make it official with Kate Middleton. Royal biographer Robert Lacey has added his voice to that of Princess Diana’s old friend Tina Brown in suggesting that the royal engagement may be announced sometime at the beginning of June, right around William’s 28th birthday. Besides coinciding with the Prince’s birthday, announcing their engagement around that time would set the stage for the newly engaged couple to be seen prominently during the week of Trooping the Color, Garter Day, and Royal Ascot, hopefully letting the media get some of its initial feeding frenzy out of the way.
I am pleased to see that the smart money is on St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, as the venue for the eventual – on that ALL are agreed – wedding of Prince William and Catherine Elizabeth Middleton. A “Royal Peculiar” like Westminster Abbey, St. George’s Chapel seems to be more and more the House of Windsor’s preferred dynastic sanctuary, especially as the aging Queen and Prince Philip make Windsor Castle their principal state residence. The future Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark were married there back in 1863; and, of course, the marriage of the current Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall was blessed there five years ago. It was also where the Earl and Countess of Wessex were married in 1999, and where Peter Philips wed Autumn Kelly in 2008.
The grand Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, weddings of the 20th century may have been appropriate to those times. But it is notable that British royal weddings have not always been so grand. King George III and Queen Charlotte, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and King George V and Queen Mary, were all married in the relatively modest setting of the Chapel Royal at St. James Palace. Certainly the extravaganza of Charles and Diana’s wedding – whatever its TV ratings! – was ill-omened and a repeat attempt is to be avoided at all costs. The only real drawback to a Windsor Castle wedding, as I see it, would be no traditional balcony scene for the newlyweds… something they probably wouldn’t mind in the least.
I must, however, admit to being a bit sad that Kate’s rumored preference for a Scottish wedding seems to be being rejected out of hand. The High Kirk (St. Giles Cathedral) in Edinburgh would be a lovely setting, with supporting festivities at Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle. (Maybe we would even, FINALLY, get Prince William to appear in public in a proper kilt!) Albeit, if the projections of a November wedding prove true, Scotland might well prove to be a bit dark and cold for it.
Timing will prove interesting. Robert Lacey and others are citing a variety of reasons why a wedding sooner rather than later makes sense, given upcoming events over the next couple of years. I have one more to suggest. Waiting until next summer would make the wedding coincide with the 30th anniversary of Prince Charles’ marriage to Diana, which everyone involved will probably want to avoid just because the media would have such a field day. An announcement in the near future would seem to point toward an autumn 2010 wedding – allowing about five to six months lead time – sometime around the 63rd wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip. That would be a safe but meaningful choice.
Yours aye,
Ken Cuthbertson