I do or I don't?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll be aware that Kate Middleton and Prince William are getting are married today in London.  All the stores have out red, white and blue and Union Jack bunting, cakes, cookies; you name it—if they can cash in on the hype, the stores are selling it.

I can’t say what it’s like down south in England, but in Scotland there doesn’t seem to be much hype.  Not a single application for a street party was put in in Glasgow and I don’t know anyone throwing a party.   I can’t speak for everyone in Scotland, but I can say that Union Jacks and red, white and blue have a very different connotation in Glasgow.  All the Rangers/Celtic connotations aside, there is a long history of the Scottish not being that keen on the monarchy.

No offense to my fellow Americans (unless you were that idiot hopping up and down on the news outside Westminster Abbey today) but most of you don’t get the difference between British and English---it’s not the same thing.  The United Kingdom, or Great Britain if you will, is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  So while a Scotsman is British, he is certainly NOT English. Do you follow? There tends to be a bit of an Anglophile slant and often it’s assumed that British and English are interchangeable when they really aren’t.   Throw in a thousand years of border wars and , let’s face it, who *actually* likes their neighbours anyway?

If it were up to me and I would watch the wedding to see her dress, make fun of other people’s dresses and just to see if anything crazy happens. Hell I’d even throw a party just for a reason to have a party; after all we do all have the day off (well those of you who don’t consult do).  NotBlondeHusband is not keen on any of it. He changes the channel when the news has any “reports” on the Royal Wedding and in general is fed up with all of it.

He made one comment that really stuck with me in the midst of all his rants and ravings:

“We say that Blondie Boy can grow up to be and do whatever he wants.  Well he can’t grow up to be King.”

The man actually talks some sense.  When my sister was little she told everyone she wanted to be a Queen when she grew up—I think she just wanted all the bling and a castle—and while I’m pretty sure that isn’t going to happen, in theory it could.  If Blondie Boy wants to be King he can’t but William can simply because of his parentage.

Why is so much attention and pageantry given to someone solely because of the family they were born into?  Why is his wedding that much more important than anyone else’s marriage?  To be honest I don’t “get” the whole monarchy thing.  Sure in the States we have our own sort of royalty with celebrities, but there isn’t anything vaguely comparable.  Can you imagine getting a day off work and the shops full of souvenirs and limited edition tchotskies because the President got married? It doesn’t work; there isn’t anything to compare it to because monarchies are something we’ve never had unless you count Disney princesses.

I could take this a whole other route and say do we want our daughters growing up wanting to be princesses, but I won’t go there. I did see someone tweet “I wonder what it’s like going to bed tonight knowing tomorrow you’ll be a real live princess.”  Hmm, I hope for her sake Kate is going to bed tonight knowing that tomorrow she’s going to be a wife and that the princess part (if she even gets the title) is an afterthought.  Since the release of their vows revealed Ms. Middleton had “obey” deleted from the wedding vows, I’m hoping she’s feminist enough to not be so antiquated.

I am planning to set my DVR to record the proceedings and if NotBlondeHusband doesn’t “accidentally” delete it I will fast forward to the best bits and ooh and ahh while he’s out of the house.  I don’t see anything wrong in celebrating two people’s love for one another, but I can see that when tax payer’s money is involved and other long standing history is involved that not everyone would be so keen.