So what can I get them? Are they registered at Home Depot?
Fabulous. The Brits get to pay for it and we Americans get to get up early and watch it. I still remember Diana’s wedding. She had the dress every little girl dreams about – thick, white and poufy with a huge train. I wonder what Kate will opt for? Something equally traditional or a more modern, sleeker Vera Wangish sort of creation?
I hope they have a better relationship than his Father and Mother did.
I think William has definitely taken his time in making this choice.
I wonder when she’ll actually become the Queen of England. I mean, grandma is still alive!
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’m no royalist but if we do have to have a head of state I’d actually prefer to stick with what we have.
Sure, pare it down a lot. Re-appropriate a lot of the royal fortune and kick the minor royals to the kerb, make sure they pay their way and the country is a net beneficiary in the deal…but that said, let’s keep 'em.
I see it as no different to having a goat as a regimental mascot, It is kept in hay and carrots and shiny horn-coverings until it pegs it, then we we get another from the same bloodline.
All they have to do is stand there, looking decorative and perpetuating the line. (I’m still talking about goats here).
One slight issue, his dad is an utter fruitloop. William and his brother seem to be decent guys. I’d be happy for the throne to skip a generation.
Oh yes, the marriage? I hope that they are happy and healthy and have as normal a life as can be expected. The same as I’d wish for any young couple. I envy neither their wealth nor their position. The scrutiny they face is the price they pay. Rather them than me.
I thought this was an issue in The Young Victoria, that Victoria had to marry royalty from outside the UK. Was that historically inaccurate, or am I misunderstanding?
Her future grandmother-in-law is 84 and the Queen mum made it to what, 101? So she could easily reign for another decade at least. Charles seems reasonably healthy so if he makes it to say 85 that would make his reign say from 2020 to 2033 or so. I’m guessing William takes the throne somewhere between 2030 and 2035.
I think the only legal barrier to this sort of thing nowadays is Catholicism, and that would be removed if we were about to have a Catholic queen.
Would they really? Somehow I doubt it.
Really? The anti-Catholic sentiment that was the purpose of that particular point doesn’t really exist anymore (at least, not to the same extent). It’s just another of those things about the Royal Family that are kept because it’s Tradition and there’s little point to changing Tradition when it’s not necessary. 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. As they should be, really.
If they’ve been dating for eight years already, she presumably has already overcome any misgivings she might have along those lines.
I might agree with you but- the monarch is the head of the Church of England. Suppose William married a Catholic and raised his kids as such. Then you’d have a Catholic monarch, and who would head the COE?
Well, that either means that she has enough identity and self-awareness to have assessed the situation and decided she can handle it, or she’s the type to go along and not make waves and will chewed up and spit out by a media that doesn’t give a damn.
oh noes teh horror
But seriously… isn’t the COE considering re-joining the Catholic Church? Didn’t I hear something about that?
Bueller?
I suspect that in such a circumstance, the kids would probably pretend to be CoE and be actually Catholic in private. Not that such things couldn’t be changed, but that i’d guess the royals would probably value having that tradition over losing it. But that probably depends on the royals in question - I have no trouble believing the current Queen would put tradition over honesty in that way, but as to others, not a clue.
Quite a few CofE members, and a couple of bishops iirc, have joined the Catholic Church over the horror that is the ordination of women.
They’ve been living together for five years or so. They have lived modestly (for royals) and not made a big splash in the press.
I assume that, once they get married, there will be enormous pressure on them to produce an heir. Presumably, they are aware of this, so held off on getting married (not a big deal in this day and age) until they felt ready to do so. Seems pretty sensible to me.
His grandmother has pretty good longevity genes, and I suspect she’s planning on staying in there until Charles kicks off, so that the crown can pass directly to William.
My bet would be that the Church of England would get one more convert. The problem wouldn’t be marrying a Catholic, it would be marrying a Catholic who is so devout (or has strong enough ethnic ties) that they wouldn’t convert, and ISTM it’s low odds that such a person would want to marry the future King of England to begin with.
Queen Victoria was a great-grandmother by the time she died. Seeing as how the current monarch seems to be in good health(and her mother lived to be over 100!), I don’t see Charles as becoming king until he’s a grandfather several times over. Queen Elizabeth will become the longest reigning monarch in their history is she can make it to sometime in 2015. That’s not all that far off.
Well she’s planning on staying until she’s dead. The Queen will never abdicate. Never. Even if she goes senile she still will not abdicate; Charles (or William if Charles is dead) will be made Prince Regent and rule in her name.
I haven’t seen Young Victoria yet, but for centuries it was tradition for royaly to marry royalty (usually to cement an alliance). In Germanic countries this was actually a matter of law, but this was never actually the case in Great Britain, England, or Scotland. It was always a matter of custom.
Westminster Abbey is the traditional site for royal nuptials (it’s were the Queen & Prince Phillip married), but Charles & Diana married in St Paul’s because it’s bigger. I’m guessing it’ll Westminister Abbey on July 1st (Diana’s birthday). There’s also been talk of St George’s Chapel, Windser Castle which has also hosted alot of royal weddings.