THE FAYETTE COUNTY NEWS
May 19, 2018
Today’s the day for another royal wedding.
I am the most devoted of devoted Anglophiles. I think there is hardly anyone, among my friends who say they are British Royal fanatics, too, who can outsmart me when it comes to Britain’s family tree. I recently bought a 1929 Tudor revival home that we are moving into; I am an Oxfordian (look that up); and my cousin and I have researched and traced our ancestry back to the 1600’s England…well, there is a kink in that line, but if there wasn’t we’d be related to someone of great importance, I just can’t say who yet.
I taught British Literature. I have subscribed to Majesty magazine since 1981. In other words – don’t try and out-English me. I know stuff. So, I guess that’s how I pulled this little teaser off. My friends know about my passion. I suppose I could say all kinds of hooey and get away with it. And I did.
Mother and I shared Majesty, but it ain’t cheap. It’s a beautifully photographed magazine printed on expensive paper, so if two peeps see it, it was worth it. It has information not only on the British royals but about the European royals as well. I’ve kept all the back copies and that stack is getting pretty tall. There was magazine after magazine of Princess Diana on most of the covers. Diana was a rock star and she sold magazines, right? Now 20 years after her death she was even seen most recently on their cover because of the anniversary of her death.
This magazine has the nod of approval and cooperation of the British family so it is full of great interviews, historical information, and current stories better than any other magazine out there writing royal headlines.
When mother was due to give birth to me, Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was to be televised, the first ever, and it was also the world’s first major international event to be broadcast on television. She worried she might give birth on coronation day but she was able to see it. I came along five days later.
I was so devoted to Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s fairytale romance that, like many others, I awoke in the early morning of July 29, 1981 to see the wedding ceremony. Of course we didn’t know then what we know now about their very pitiful relationship. Mother and I were in London when Prince William was born on June 21, 1982. It was all very exciting.
When William’s wedding to Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey was a topic many were interested in, I decided to have a little fun with this. A month before the wedding, I wrote on my Facebook page that I was “invited to the ceremony. My invitation and ticket to enter the cathedral came in the mail today.” Now you may think this ludicrous but Will and Kate DID extend a few invitations to commoners for their upcoming nuptials. They were a modern couple wishing to modernize the monarchy by having all kinds of people represented there. And who better than this Anglophile-know-it-all? It was (un)believable. But some friends did believe it.
Since I had been to Westminster Abbey, I remembered the layout. I wrote on Facebook my ticket told me I would be sitting in alcove “E”, row 17, and seat number 32. I remarked that I was “totally surprised to be one of the ‘regular/commoner’ guests who applied to be invited to the wedding.”
My friends knew how gaga I was over the English royals but still most knew it was a hoax. I was able to fool one social media friend. She was excited and wrote profusely to me to make sure I remembered every detail of the wedding so that I could relay it to her when I came home.
We now read that impish Princess Diana had a little devil streak in her and wicked sense of humor. So, do I feel bad about this prank? Nope.
And did I get another invite? Nah.