# Prince William to marry **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847 "2010-11-16T11:18:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/41 "2010-11-16T20:31:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’m not sure that nice and boring are the necessary qualifications here. Diana was nice and boring, and seemed to be overwhelmed by the attention after a while. I think for a royal wife to maintain her identity and sanity, you’d need someone with enough spirit to tell the slavering media to fuck off. (Or if not to say it, at least to think it.) I would think someone with high spirits who mouths off to the media and embarrasses them is exactly what the royal family _doesn’t_ want, especially after Sarah Ferguson. And while Diana may have been overwhelmed with the attention at times, she also used it to her advantage to say some not-so-flattering things about the royal family after her divorce. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/42 "2010-11-16T20:50:35Z")
he must have been very nervous carrying his mum’s ring about for weeks. i’m glad that they had a private time for the engagement and before the announcement. although i’m sure she is happy to be able to wear her ring out now. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/43 "2010-11-16T21:09:27Z")
> [@Baron Greenback](#): > > > [@BobLibDem](#): > > > > Or does Kate have some royal blood that I haven’t read about? > > If she does it’s not recent. _Other_ royal bodily fluids, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/44 "2010-11-16T21:59:31Z")
It’s nice for them. It is a bit rich expecting us to pay for the wedding when essential services are being cut at the exact same time. Maybe there could be some bonds issued so that those who want to pay for it can do so. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/45 "2010-11-16T22:03:08Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > I would think someone with high spirits who mouths off to the media and embarrasses them is exactly what the royal family _doesn’t_ want, especially after Sarah Ferguson. That’s exactly who I was thinking of, and I don’t give a tinker’s damn what the royal family wants. They’ll come through it okay. My sympathies are with the underdog. And who came away from their royal marriage better, Diana or Sarah? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/46 "2010-11-16T22:04:13Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > It’s nice for them. It is a bit rich expecting us to pay for the wedding when essential services are being cut at the exact same time. Maybe there could be some bonds issued so that those who want to pay for it can do so. Could the royal family pay for their own party, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/47 "2010-11-16T22:08:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Could the royal family pay for their own party, maybe? Never going to happen - not for the cost of policing and security, which will be HUGE. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/48 "2010-11-16T22:21:20Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Never going to happen - not for the cost of policing and security, which will be HUGE. Okay. I was under the impression that they were reasonably well-to-do. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/49 "2010-11-16T22:30:36Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Never going to happen - not for the cost of policing and security, which will be HUGE. Yeah, I thought I had heard that Prince Charles would be covering the cost of the wedding but that someone else was picking up the security tab. The Swedish taxpayers paid for Princess Victoria’s wedding and the Spanish taxpayers paid for Prince Felipe’s, but they are both the official heirs to the throne while William is not (yet). Maybe that changes the protocol or something. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/50 "2010-11-16T22:37:38Z")
Ahhh yes. Slash every public service, fire public employees, but God forbid a bunch of inbred parasites should not have the perfect wedding. I’m going to have to fly home for a funeral in the reasonably near future - I just hope it doesn’t coincide with any of the run up to this debacle. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/51 "2010-11-16T22:44:45Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > they’ve been going out for 8 years. How big a liar is he rfather anyway?? 😉 It’s amazing that all the royal heirs have married outside royalty (recent marriages I mean). It was about time before they started seriously devolving. Throw in divorcees, interracial marriages, single moms and women from scandalous families and it almost sounds like they are real humans. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/52 "2010-11-16T22:47:48Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Should it become necessary then the Royal Family will have a quiet word with the government of the day and the problems will be removed. Barring a rather striking paucity of heirs, I kind of doubt it, really. The prince in question would probably have no problem with giving up his claim on the throne, and just going on being the King (or Queen)'s brother. (I assume a princess being the heir apparent would be one of the situations where there’s so few potential heirs that it wouldn’t be done.) Being the King bears no real power, and little added prestige, compared to being a prince and lord, so, choice between the throne and true love? I suspect most who ever considered a Catholic wife in the first place would choose the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/53 "2010-11-16T22:48:17Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > It’s nice for them. It is a bit rich expecting us to pay for the wedding when essential services are being cut at the exact same time. Maybe there could be some bonds issued so that those who want to pay for it can do so. > [@villa](#): > > Ahhh yes. Slash every public service, fire public employees, but God forbid a bunch of inbred parasites should not have the perfect wedding. > > I’m going to have to fly home for a funeral in the reasonably near future - I just hope it doesn’t coincide with any of the run up to this debacle. These things. I’ll be leaving town for the occasion if at all possible, hopefully to a place with no TV, radio or newspapers. Why would I want to see a few already very rich people burn millions of pounds _in one day_ while thousands of ordinary people are having their pay and pensions cut, or their jobs taken away, affecting _their whole lives_? (Villa, looking so far ahead to a funeral? I’m sorry… that doesn’t sound good.) ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/54 "2010-11-16T22:56:24Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > (Villa, looking so far ahead to a funeral? I’m sorry… that doesn’t sound good.) 96 year old grandfather, in and out of hospital. It’ll happen some time. It’ll be sad, but 96 is a bloody good knock. I’d rather it was quick and painless and he can keep his faculties intact (as he has now) than see him fall apart mentally. 6 years against the Nazis should buy you a degree of dignity on the way out. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/55 "2010-11-16T23:32:48Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Okay. I was under the impression that they were reasonably well-to-do. Of course they are. I said ‘never going to happen,’ not ‘they can’t afford it.’ ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/56 "2010-11-17T00:36:11Z")
The major issue with amending the Act of Settlement re Catholics is that all 17 Commonwealth Realms would have to agree at pass their own acts of parliament authorizing it. Ditto for removing male-preference from the system (like Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Spain (not sure about the last one) have done. That could be an issue now that William is marrying; it’ll become an even bigger issue if his first child is a girl. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/57 "2010-11-17T01:49:15Z")
I wonder how long it will last? Since QEII has said, she won’t retire and is 84 and in good health she’s on the track to break 100. And how did Diana’s father vouch for her viginity? Was he like "Hey man I was peaking in my daughters room every night and never saw anything? Or was the old chasity belt employed? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/58 "2010-11-17T02:34:36Z")
So, I told my husband that I was going to ask for the day off work when the date for the royal wedding was set. This is so I can stay up all night and watch, as it will be in the middle of the night for us North Americans. Just as I did, so very long ago, with Charles and Diana. He looked up at me, and said “Billy Bob and Kitty?” It just made me laugh. Of course, he used a fake hick accent, which really sold it. (Yes, I love a royal wedding. Whee! It makes me want to buy a hat!) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/59 "2010-11-17T03:39:24Z")
What with commemorative videos, souvenirs, and other revenue (do US networks pay for TV rights?), is it conceivable that the wedding will pay for itself? ---
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847/60 "2010-11-17T03:40:07Z")
I think it’s called the Act of Succession, but there is a law that the monarch of Great Britain MUST be Protestant. No others may apply (unless the Act is repealed). ## You can dally through English history to see what will get you the throne. We’ll keep things simple by starting with the Norman Conquest (1066): William I - ruled by right of conquest, an divine right. Didn’t speak English. BTW his parents weren’t married. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-william-to-marry/560847.md?page=4)