Continuing
the series for Confluence Daily, “Why Royal Weddings Matter,” we celebrate
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding with a look at a past bridal remembrance,
reprinted here:
.........................................................................
Royal Wedding Redux
in British tradition, wedding vows
are a morning affair, and if we were to catch the first glimpse of the
beautiful bride, we needed to be “front and center” very early. My friends and
I were a little old for a slumber party, but as we gathered in our pajamas at 4
a.m. in front of my clunky television in Atlanta, Georgia, the anticipation and
giddiness was “ageless.” It was July 29,
1981, and like millions of people around the world, we prepared to watch the
royal wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Charles, Prince of Wales. (We even had
snacks to match the occasion: scones with homemade fig jam and Earl Grey tea
with lemon—perhaps to not only feed our early morning hunger, but also some
inherent dreams of being a princess.)
As the world welcomes a new “princess” today, we are
reminded of another celebrated royal wedding almost four decades ago. It was a
landmark event broadcast in 74 countries and watched around the world by over
750 million people—including me and my pajama-party friends!
The
moment Diana stepped out of that fairy-tale-inspired glass coach on her wedding
morning with endless yards of silk train magically materializing with her—"like
seeing a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis,” her gown designers wrote later—she
had us hook, line and sinker. Princess Diana did not invent our fascination
with royalty, nevertheless, her wedding ushered in a whole new ballgame—and the world was never quite the same.
As
the first worldwide media spectacular, and probably the defining event of the
eighties—a decade in which style so often trumped substance—the glittering
happening brought ceremonial weddings back in style almost overnight. It
resurrected the bridal industry from the social upheavals of the previous two
decades and set the pace for a new era of fancy wedding hoopla: elaborate
designer gowns; staged over-the-top productions; refined Martha Stewart details;
and the wedding as a “consumer rite.” (Sound familiar?)
Since the same media blitz followed Diana and
Charles’ soap-opera marriage and thorny divorce, many people became wary of
fairy tales and princesses. However, the endearing William and Kate, with their
dignity and realness, made us fall in love all over again! And, of course, the
royal buzz was on once more last fall when charming Prince Harry and lovely Meghan
Markle announced their engagement. But there were and are differences.
Like her now sister-in-law Kate Middleton, Meghan is
not “blue-blooded” (not even British, yet that will change after she marries the
prince), but like what attracted William to Kate, Meghan has other qualities
that were more important to Harry. Thanks in part to the princes’ mother
cracking open the staid and out-of-touch British monarchy, revealing how
“dynastic duty” has little to do with love and happiness, and, to insure they
didn’t get boxed-in by the past, insisting her sons have the grounding of real-world
experience. All of which helped to free William and Harry to choose to marry from
their true heart’s desire. (Tweaking a quote from journalist extraordinaire Tina Brown, who has
covered the weddings of Charles and Diana, William and Kate, and now Harry and
Meghan: “Everything Diana had wished for her sons has come to pass. They each
found the woman who would bring them the personal contentment she lacked.”)
So not only is the return to elegant wedding
pageantry part of Diana’s legacy, but her most lasting legacy just may be Kate
Middleton and Meghan Markle—and the more egalitarian world available to them as
the two young women bring their confident, modern, compassionate and open-minded
“princessdom” to a world ready for some genuine graciousness. Thank heavens for
royal weddings! Tea, anyone? ~
[Excerpts
from The End of the Fairy-Tale Bride: For
Better or Worse, How Princess Diana Rescued the Great White Wedding … a
book for anyone who likes their wedding pageantry tossed with a little fashion
history and princess brides! Available on Amazon.]
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