Patsy's Ramblings on the Royal Wedding

Just having returned from my day in Windsor attending the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla PB I thought it appropriate to sit down and pen some thoughts on the day. Here goes.

Brief thoughts on the royal wedding/guests:

• Prince William - please do something with your hair!
• Prince Harry - looking good, kid! (and better choice of costume than the last time!)
• Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, looked, dare I say it, absolutely fabulous in a brightly-coloured Pucci dress.
• Hats, hats, hats. Philip Treacy, you're a genius!
• Really liked Camilla's second outfit - the longer blue/grey coatdress with gold embroidering -- very classy
• Camilla's daughter, Laura Parker Bowles, looked very lovely in her dress. I can imagine that it must be pretty nervewracking to see your mother marry the future King of England!
• Fergie and Andrew's daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie looked very grown-up in their Prada dresses
• Sophie, Countess of Wessex, looked as chic as ever. (I wonder why little Lady Louise didn't make an appearance? I guess someone had to stay behind and guard Windsor Castle!)

Thoughts on the marriage itself:

All in all, it was a bittersweet day (maybe 60% sweet, 40% bitter). Although I think one would have to be completely heartless to deny Charles & Camilla the right to be together - I still can't quite get over the utter callousness in which Charles (at times) treated Diana throughout their marriage.

I couldn't help feel a bit of residual bitterness at the religious blessing during the "forsaking all others" bit. Should we really trust the words of a confessed adulterer? Did Charles fully intend to forsake all others when he pledged to love and honour Diana all those years ago? Or was he lying to himself, Diana, and the whole world then, but today, in 2005, we're supposed to believe that he is telling the truth? (And no, I don't seriously think Charles would cheat on Camilla, but the point is that he most likely blatantly lied during his first wedding vows to Diana, which kind of rubs me the wrong way. Should you really be lying to God - and your future wife - in church, of all places?)

It is perhaps a cruel twist of fate that Charles didn't marry Camilla in the early 1970s, an event that may have spared a whole lot of people a whole lot of misery, but regardless, should he have agreed to marry a woman he didn't really love in the first place? And can we really place the blame at the feet of the Queen and Prince Philip for "bullying" their eldest son into marrying the 20-year-old Diana? Charles was a 32-year-old man at the time of his marriage - he couldn't have stood up for himself and refused to marry until he was sure he had found a compatible partner?

In short - Charles' track record of adultery (albeit with one woman, Camilla) - makes his vows today to "forsake all others" just slightly haunting. But I guess in today's world, where the pursuit of personal happiness often comes at the expense of others, it should come as no surprise that so many are willing to forgive, forget, condone.

At this point I should qualify that I do hope Charles & Camilla live happily ever after. It's obvious that they are each others' soulmates, the loves of each others' lives. I find it so heartwarming, for lack of a better word, to see a couple that, after 30 years, are as much in love with each other as they were at the beginning of their relationship. It's a romantic notion in this day and age where people get married with little regard and respect for the seriousness of the institution (Britney, Nicky-- this means YOU) that love can stand the test of time. My only wish is that Charles and Camilla had married each other 30 years ago, thus sparing a vulnerable Diana many years of misery. But, continuing on...

England has a new Princess of Wales today. (English women automatically take all of their husband's titles.) The cynical side of me can't help but wonder if today is the culmination of Camilla's deepest, darkest desires - to supplant Diana as Charles' wife, to become stepmother to Diana's children, to adopt the royal titles that Diana was stripped of in her divorce. The title of a recent CBC documentary was "Princess Camilla: Winner Takes All"; a cruel, albeit factual statement. This leads me to wonder: has Camilla "won" after all? I can't help but answer yes. The obvious next question: did Camilla actively and calculatingly pursue Charles in the hopes of one day taking him for herself? I don't know. Friends of Mrs. PB have always said that Camilla never wanted to be royal, but would it really be so horrible to be called "Your royal highness" and be curtsied to by every woman in the country except the Queen? Would it really be so horrible to live in the lap of luxury as a royal duchess? Would it really be so horrible to wear gorgeous heirloom jewellery and live in a castle? I think not.

On the other hand, the "people are inherently good" side of myself can't help but smile and get all "verklempt" and choked up at the sight of two old coots on their wedding day. Camilla did look beautiful and I hope her future path in life is a little less twisty-turny than it has been up until now. She certainly has put up with her share of misery in this whole debacle. (I'm thinking particularly about the infamous bread-roll throwing incident at a Gloucestershire grocery store in the early 1990s.) Although perhaps Camilla did deserve a bit of what she got, for knowingly committing adultery with another woman's husband -- the ultimate low-down-dirty-trick in my "sisterhood" book -- she certainly has withstood a lot of scrutiny for the love of her prince. I just hope he turns out to be worth all the trouble!

Anyways - I think that's about all I have to say on this subject. It was, I suppose, a pretty good day - I got to do a lot of royal-watching, saw a lot of haute couture, elbowed that obnoxious Tara PT out of the way in the drink-ticket line! (I stand by my opinion that Tara really would be better off in America where other such utterly talentless twits reside -- Paris H., Kevin F., this means YOU.) The Brits do know how to throw a party - no one does pomp and circumstance better, which is probably why I love England so much!

Signing off for now, your ever-faithful Windsor-watcher,

Patsy S.