Monday, May 2, 2011

That Wedding...

The month of April closed in smashing style with the much hyped wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. You'll have to forgive me for being so sick of hearing about the wedding that I couldn't stomach the thought of writing about it until today. Unlike the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria, I couldn't find enough emotion in the actual wedding to keep me excited enough to get past all of the overexposure.

Until now, most of my friends and family had considered my love of all things royal to be absurd and weird. They never really bought my argument that it is a perfectly normal interest or hobby. I have always found this odd and even offensive. You see, I live in The United States of America. To be more thorough, I live in a society completely inundated with with royalty, even if it isn't real. Merchandise related to any of Disney's princesses are HUGE sellers. Magazines increase their circulation by putting royal women on their covers; Diana, Princess of Wales; Princess Grace of Monaco or Queen Rania of Jordan. The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are regular features on the cover of tabloids all across America.

In the week leading up to The Wedding I passed people in the supermarket discussing which snacks to purchase for their late night royal wedding fest. I sat beside a whole table of women who were eagerly chatting about how excited they were about staying up all night to watch the wedding. Just yesterday, while sniffing the Diana, Princess of Wales rose in my local Lowe's, I pretended not to notice while two older ladies were discussing how they'd worn plastic tiaras and drank champagne while flipping between BBC America and CNN to avoid missing a single moment of live coverage. My facebook newsfeed was awash with hundreds of status messages and links about he wedding. Even people who probably couldn't even find The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on a map were discussing Grand Duchess Maria Teresa's Elie Saab gown. I momentarily thought that America was on the verge of coming out-of-the-closet with her love of all things royal or princessly. Unfortunately...

...In an age when it is perfectly normal to interested in what Kim Kardashian wears every single day, my fellow royal watchers and I still get weird looks and raised eyebrows when we mention our passion. This may not be an issue for royal watchers actually living in a monarchy. Sadly, most of the royal watchers and Luxaholics I know all have family and friends who think we are just plain bonkers. The madness surrounding the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton probably created a whole new generation of royal watchers and wannabe princesses. I wonder if they, too, will be treated like a UFO abductee by their friends and family. Is being interested in royalty really worse than being into the Desperate Housewives of New Jersey? How can it possibly be cooler to know what GTL means than to know that Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg still has 9 very attractive single adult grandsons (all princes)????? Oh no my friends, we are not the ones who are bonkers.

Unfortunately because of the massive overexposure surrounding the royal wedding, those who formerly snickered and rolled their eyes at our royal interest are divided into two camps. We now have those who can, on some superficial level, appreciate our interest and those who will snicker louder and roll their eyes harder.

What is the point of all this, you ask? Until today I simply would not dare risk stating how I thought the dress of Kate, oops I mean Catherine, was far to similar to those of Princess Grace of Monaco and Princess Isabella de Ligne to really be original. Nor would I could dare say that after watching the emotional and joyous wedding of Crown Princess Victoria that I had a hard time sitting through the stiff upper lip show. Truth be told, I am such a royal watcher that I hate to be the traitorous voice of dissent. Please, forgive me, for you see, I have been suffering from a nauseating cause of Will and Kate overexposure. I am not my usual perky self. However, I do actually agree with Guy Somerset, despite being on the verge of becoming a Kill Joy. 

If you came here looking for a roundup of That Wedding I recommend you visit The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor. The ROSS features all of the highlights and covers the fashion highs and lows. It is where I, personally, recommend you sate your thirst for wedding tidbits.

If you came here for the usual Luxembourg factor I have provided links below, where you can find pictures of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. My favorite royal lady wore Elie Saab to the wedding and the pre-wedding event. She complimented her evening gown with the diamond and pearl Princess Ingeborg of Sweden brooch that the late Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte inherited from her mother. She complimented her Elie Saab suit with a pearl necklace while repeating the diamond and pearl earrings from the night before. All of the pieces are heirlooms. 

Getty, Getty, Getty, Getty, Getty, ANP, ANP, ANP, ANP, ANP, ANP, Belga, Belga, Belga, Belga, ISOPIX, ISOPIX, ISOPIX, ISOPIX, ISOPIX, and ISOPIX. Please, be sure to visit Zimbio and Daylife for galleries of images without watermarks. You can search a variety of Luxembourg or royal related keywords and generate dozens of images. I have done some of the work for you with the links into their galleries.

Source: Getty Images Europe via Zimbio and Daylife. 

5 comments:

  1. Aha! So, you're the one who read it. ;)

    Thanks!

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  2. Long time lurker, first time posting. I agree with everything you said. Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel's wedding last June was so much better than the one from this weekend.

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  3. Love the post. Curious as to where you are at in the US? This Royal Blogger is in Washington, and all my friends think it is weird too.

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  4. I'm in the South Eastern US in a small town. Typical Southern Belle here. Everyone thinks royalty is a weird hobby. I think monster truck racing and donks are weird hobbies. ;)

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