The wedding seems to have bought out mixed thoughts in people. As a sociologist I find this interesting on several fronts. Britain is a country that often complains that we are not patriotic enough, that we don’t celebrate St Georges Day (which is today btw – did you remember that?) like the Irish celebrate St Patricks Day, that we don’t have a British identity. All that is partly true and it isn’t surprising when politicians and Tony Blair in 2009 declared Britain as mulitcultural, and many believe we have become a society where we are embracing all people but we have been left with a diluted national identity. The Royal Wedding has given us a Bank Holiday and a chance to demonstrate our collective patriotism.
The retail trade are certainly getting behind the event, not surprisingly when it is expected to bring in a revenue boost of £516 million. The shops are awash with mugs and commemorative items.
This Royal wedding Commemorative plate is an ideal keepsake that I think is especially good for children. I remember the Charles and Diana mug that we were all given at school. These smaller items will help to remember the occassion and join in with the celebrations. This only costs approx £5.00, is produced by Persues and is availble in lots of retail outlets including Amazon. The kit includes an elegant ceramic plate, complete with gilded edge and illustration of William and Kate, it also contains a 48 page book about their love story.
Erin will also we wearing this cute bib from Beauty and the Bib which I think is a bit of fun. Priced at £8.00. Beauty and the Bib have a great range of bibs, are well made with two layers of of cotton terry towelling and have velco tabs for closing.
When sitting in the hairdressers last week I heard one of the older ladies asking the hairdresser if she will be watching the wedding. The hairdresser said
no, and she couldn’t understand the big deal, that no one else gets a day off to get married, and thousands get married every weekend in the summer
With that conversation in mind I came home and asked my children who was getting married soon and will they be watching it. Dylan wasn’t fussed in the least (is that a Royal thing or a boy thing? – the latter I guess).
Chloe, on the otherhand is interested, she wants to watch, she wants to know about them becoming King and Queen, she certainly wanted to know who was going and what they would be wearing. We also had a conversation about Kate becoming Catherine and all Chloe wanted to know was what would they call Chelsey as she thought that didn’t sound posh enough for a princess either!
Therefore next Friday we shall be watching the wedding from the comfort of our sofa, we are not having one of the estimated 5500 street parties and adorning the area with bunting but we shall be watching history being made.
3 Responses
I am with you on this, I love the fact the Monarchy is something that provides us with history over centuries and that we are watching history in the making. We too are not attending a party, with three so little we don’t tend to get invited, but we will be watching! x
Thanks for the comment Kerry, there are so many other countries that seem to engage with our monarchy more than Brits do!
I love that we have a monarchy and a great history, but I’m not excited about the wedding at all. I’ll probably watch a bit on the TV and check out the dress, but thats it.
My children are a bit young to have much of an understanding. I remember being at school and painting Fergies eyelashes on a giant poster picture for their wedding though.
xx