Royal Wedding

Thirty years ago, when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, I woke up early to watch the event on tv. As a young girl, the fairy tale nature of a Royal Wedding was heady. And the event did not disappoint. Her dress was picture book perfect, and the royal pomp was turned up to 11 with the carriages and hats, and the balcony kiss.

In the intervening years, we've learned how much that ceremony did not lead to happily ever after. How doomed it was from the start, either in terms of an enduring romance or a happy arrangement for everyone involved. It is difficult not to feel that, as a nineteen year old commoner, Lady Diana got a raw deal. That she was taken advantage of by being asked to take on a role she could not appreciate. Her raw deal only existed, as far as I've heard, because Prince Charles felt he could not marry the woman he really loved, years before Lady Diana came of age.

But Charles and Diana did marry and produce the requisite heir and a spare. And my involvement in their lives continued as I made bets with my parents about their son's names before they were named. I won both times.

As I grew up, I lost interest in the royal family, so much so I was surprised to learn that Prince Edward and Sophia have two children. The combination of getting older along with the divorce and all the scandal that surrounded it, and that came after it, soured any feelings I had had.

I will not be getting up to watch the latest wedding for the heir apparent, which begins at 3AM my time. I have no interest in even recording it for later viewing, although I doubt I'll be able to avoid seeing footage here and there. I've been thankfully avoiding most of the coverage leading up to the event, although in the past few days it has become almost impossible. I would love to know how many more hours of coverage this wedding is getting versus the one thirty years ago.

The real thing I'm taking away from the royal wedding is the reminiscing about the time I did get up to watch. I was living in Minnesota back then, so the hour wasn't as early. My parents had no interest in seeing the wedding, but I had been trained since I was 4 or so to get up on Saturday morning to watch cartoons and have cereal without disturbing my parents, so getting up by myself was not unusual. I have never been a morning person, however, so it does interest me that I was so willing to get up early for this event. I do wonder if my Saturday morning training lead me to my level of independence, or if it was some innate independence that allowed that situation to work.

I think my motivation comes down to feeling, or wanting to feel, a connection to something so historic. The stakes for royalty are not what they were even a hundred years ago, given how many countries the offspring of Queen Victoria wound up ruling, but they are still part of an institution that has continued, in various forms, for hundreds of years.

I wish Prince William and Kate a lovely day tomorrow and a love story that grows more wonderful as the years go by.