Why "There Will Always Be An England" (Royal Wedding Special No. 5)

        "When the most talked-about dress in modern times went ondisplay in Buckingham Palace last week, its owner the Duchess of Cambridge andher grandmother-in-law the Queen stood transfixed.  

         Hundreds of millions of people around the world had heldtheir collective breath as Kate Middleton arrived at Westminster Abbey on 29April, waiting for the moment when her full-skirted ivory and white satin gazarwedding gown, created by Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton, would finallybe revealed. 

        Now, those lucky enough to get a ticket have a chance to seethe dress at close quarters, during Buckingham Palace’s annual summer opening.

         Standing on a plinth beneath six grand chandeliers, it takescentre stage in the Palace’s majestic Ballroom, usually the scene of stateoccasions and investitures.

        Among the first and most important guests to see thefascinating exhibition, just one day before its grand public opening, were theDuchess of Cambridge wearing a light-beige L 395 Joseph Scala dress and theQueen.

        As the present and future Queens gazed at the display,memories of the day Her Majesty had called 'amazing' no doubt came floodingback.  But the Queen’s first reaction onseeing the headless mannequin upon which the dress hangs was less thancomplimentary. 

       Overheard in conversation with Kate, she commented that theghostly tailor’s dummy – which appears to float in mid-air – made it look 'horrible'and 'creepy'

        Known for her strong opinions, the Queen clearly feelscomfortable enough with her newest granddaughter-in-law to speak so plainlyabout the gown’s presentation.

      The Duchess countered with her view that the display had a '3Deffect,' as well as how the exhibition felt slightly unreal.  'It’s surreal looking at it now . . . It’svery weird,' she was overheard saying."

(From Hello! No. 1185, 1 August 2011: “The Queen and KateView Her Iconic Bridal Gown At Buckingham Palace”)

NOTE:  This story surprised me and made me laugh.   Although it is written with a completely straight face and not a bit of humor (nothing even remotely tongue-in-cheek), I assume the editors at Hello! also laughed about the scene they describe so vividly while sitting around the conference table in London.  Imagine being the former Catherine Middleton and mounting your first major independent public relations event involving the display of your own wedding dress in the Queen of England's principal residence and having Her Majesty (quite correctly) describe the mise-en-scene as "horrible" and "creepy."  I know that the Queen knows her horses and corgis and I suspect her knowledge and love of animals includes a strong and refined aesthetic sense.  Having grown up  around natural and man-made (i.e., artistic) beauty her entire life and employing a retinue of aestheticians (including the late, feckless, ruined Sir Anthony Blunt) has doubtless made her extremely knowledgeable and highly confident in her judgements, especially now that she has attained the venerable age of 85.   HRH's  directness here reminds me a lot of my late mother-in-law, Caroline Butler Prutzman, a woman who was also very confident and direct in her pronouncements and actions, especially late in life when she had a chance to take stock of what she knew and what others didn't.  She was always polite, and even though she didn't have the influence and power of a monarch, she spoke her mind clearly and precisely.   The Duchess of Cambridge's "3D" reply is absurd, of course, but I'm prepared to cut her a break.  This must have been a distinctly uncomfortable moment for a young woman starting out in married life.  One more thing:  I refuse to believe that Catherine Middleton actually wore those high heels under her wedding gown.  I believe she must have worn flats and substituted these later as the "official shoes".  Any reader thoughts on this subject?  (Please note that all photos included above, with the exception of the black & white image of the Queen wearing the Grand Duchess Vladimir tiara, a gift to her from her grandmother Queen Mary, enlarge beautifully when mouse-clicked.)

Royal Wedding Special -- Installment Three -- Sir Edmund Blackadder's 29 April Appointment At Court

Official British royal wedding guest list, seating plan confirmed -- Mr Bean will be there.

By Associated Press, Saturday, April 23, 5:51 AM

 

LONDON — 

          The full list of confirmed guests and the seating plan for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton were released by the British monarchy Saturday.

          Many of the 1,900 invitees had already been mentioned in the media weeks ago, including soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria, musician Elton John and director Guy Ritchie. But others, like soul singer Joss Stone and Mr. Bean  actor Rowan Atkinson — a close friend of William’s father Prince Charles — were new.

Reader Note:  I should be old and experienced enough and strong enough not to find the news of Sir Edmund Blackadder's close relationship with HRH Prince Charles disturbing, but I do. It's difficult to know what to make of anything these days.

Royal Wedding Special -- Installment One -- Princess Marina

 

H.R.H. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, in 1940, "whose nobility was printed on features of the utmost refinement" -- Harold Acton  (photograph by Dorothy Widing)

          In view of the imminence of next week's royal wedding in Great Britain, I thought I would offer my acknowledgment of the grand event here by posting an excerpt or two from Sophia Watson's highly interesting, entertaining, and at times very moving 1994 biography of Great Britain's much-beloved Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (1906-68), the great-great aunt of Prince William, to whom she is related through both Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

  

H.R.H. Prince George, Duke of Kent, 1920s by Paul Tanqueray

       Born Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, the glamorous wife (and then young and lifelong war widow) of the somewhat tragicomic Prince George (Duke of Kent and younger brother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI), Princess Marina's and Prince George's November 29, 1934 wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey was the first royal wedding to be broadcast live over radio throughout Europe, which The Times' wireless correspondent described as an "unparalleled technical feat" on the part of the BBC.  

  

The Duke and Duchess of Kent, October 1934 (photogravure after Dorothy Widing)

          Sophia Watson describes Princess Marina's background as follows in her introductory chapter, "The World Into Which Marina Was Born":

"Marina of Greece was in fact anything and everything but Greek.  Her mother, Grand Duchess Helen and paternal grandmother, Queen Olga, were Russian.  Her paternal grandfather, George I of Greece was born Danish and her maternal grandmother was a German duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.   Yet her father, Prince Nicholas of Greece, had been brought up to regard himself as Greek and, as the historian C.M. Woodhouse declares, ‘the only practicable definition of a Greek is that he is somebody who thinks he is a Greek.’  To that extent Marina was a Greek until the day she died.

Royal Palace in Athens, 1920s

          Prince Michael of Greece wrote:

‘The Greek royal family is the fruit of an unlikely union, a union between the descendants of Vikings with those of antiquity and Byzantium.  Yet, as frequently occurs in such odd alliances, the result has been, and still remains, a happy one.  Although we did not start in Greece we belong to Greece.  Unless one speaks with a racial bias, Greekness does not imply membership in an ethnic group.  On the contrary, it always used to mean (and, I like to think, it still does mean) partaking in a certain spiritual outlook, religion and language; sharing a common body of knowledge and appreciation of a way of life.’

          Greece has had a troubled recent history, and to understand its ups and downs one must look further back than Marina’s immediate family.  Throughout the centuries boundaries changed and different nationalities emigrated to Greece, adding their blood and cultures to the ancient Hellenic race.  Despite, or because of, their mixed blood the Greeks are a fiercely patriotic breed."

Concert at the Royal Palace in Athens, 1907 

        During the course of her 62 year life, in addition to her many royal engagements and duties, and her service as the longtime president of the All England Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, Princess Marina was awarded the following official honors:

British Honours 

CI:  Companion of the Order of the Crown of India

GCVO:  Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

GBE:  Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

GCStJ:  Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Royal Family Order of King George V

Royal Family Order of King George VI

Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II

Foreign Honours

Greece: The Order of St. Olga and St. Sophia, 1st Class

Greece:  Grand Cross of the Order of Beneficence

Mexico:  Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle

Peru:  Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru

Chile:  Grand Cross of the Order of Merit

Brazil:  Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross

Argentina:  Grand Cross of the Order of Liberator San Martin

Honorary Military Appointments:

Colonel-in-Chief of The Kent Regiment

Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Colonel-in-Chief of The Dorset Regiment

Colonel-in-Chief of  The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment

Colonel-in-Chief of The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment

Colonel-in-Chief of  the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's Regiment (Allied)

Honorary Colonel of the Buckinghamshire Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry 

Honorary Colonel of the 4th Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Honorary Colonel of the 431 LAA Regiment RA

Honorary Colonel of the 299th (Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and Berkshire) Field Regiment, RA

Honorary Colonel of the Buckinghamshire Regiment, RA (Territorials)

Colonel of the Queen's Own Buffs

Honorary Commandant of the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service

 

Princess Marina on her wedding day, November 29, 1934

Text excerpted from:  Sophia Watson, Marina:  The Story of a Princess.  London, Weidenfield & Nicholson, 1994.