| by Dr. Jeffrey Lant What can you say about the quintessential non-event that has over 2 billion viewers showing up to watch with unfeigned interest? Plenty, if you're Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham, "God save me from the Queen," she wrote on April 24, as if her pen were filled with acid reflux. "And especially from their Wedding of the Century." Then she goes on her hackneyed way, "I didn't embrace citizenship of a country defined by its violent rejection of monarchy to turn around and be surrounded by all things royal." My, my Mother Abraham is in a pother today... and will, if she keeps on this way, be positively apoplectic by the time Kate becomes, at the touch of a golden ring symbolizing eternity, Her Royal Highness and the world oohs and aahs. Ms. Abraham is Australian (she has to get that in in every column she writes), and Aussies can be amongst the rudest people on earth; too often priding themselves on just how cheeky and brash they can be. It's a sign of their often blatant need to "grow up" and abandon their egregious manners for better ones. But Abraham just cannot let go... "Come Friday, the birthplace of the revolution will be lousy with cucumber sandwiches, Pimm's Cups and jelly donuts shaped like hearts (Et tu Dunkin D?)" Why does the lawful marriage of one young man of striking good looks, a mega-watt smile, good posture and average intelligence to one young woman of intelligence, undeniable beauty, a coal miner's grand daughter who once denied him and broke off their thing, irritate so many... turning otherwise sensible folks into grumps and bores on the subject? Such people tumble over themselves to recite the reasons for their loud lamentations and hostilities. * The day for a monarchy has, they assure us, passed... down with the Windsors and every other crowned entity on earth. * No one should be so privileged as the Windsors are and their ilk. It's time for them to get with the republican agenda. * America, as Yvonne Abraham has naggingly reminded, went to war, bloody, long, vicious, to get rid of the very people the wedding glorifies. * The monarchy is a symbol of all that's wrong with the world... being at once elitist, privileged, coddled, protected, immune from the realities of life from which we should all be suffering, prince or pizza maker. Let's examine these remarks. Is there anything here beyond unsubstantiated opinion, bias, and the need to mouth off? First and foremost: this is above all else the celebration of a fundamental rite, marriage, the selection for life of one smitten by another, hopefully equally smitten, or even more. A marriage celebrates the decision to try to love, honor, cherish. For 50% or so of the people so venturing divorce and mayhem loom... but people want to try anyway. And they are glad that their princes, too, embrace the concept. As clever 19th century British journalist Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) wrote in his insightful book "The English Constitution" (published 1867): "A princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and, as such, it rivets mankind." Spot on. This marriage will feature more carriages, more guests, more presents, and more media coverage than you got at your wedding... but the heart of this wedding will be the same as yours: "Do you...? Do you...?" And they with all their palaces, wide acres, jewels and powdered footmen to spare will then offer the same simple kiss that you gave your new spouse, the kiss that symbolized your desire to love and live for this now very special person and your sanctified relationship. And at that moment, with that kiss the two billion viewers will be thinking not just of the prince and new princess... but of themselves, of their marriages, their ceremonies... and their personal dreams and illusions. And of how not even princes emerge from fairy tales unscathed. Their way will feature different problems than yours, but they will face problems all the same. What they are saying is that they want to be with each other as they face these problems. They deserve the same chance that you had and like all newly married couples the same generous good wishes from those of us who know better than they that even princes will need those good wishes in future since no one lives on this planet without costs of every kind and amount. And as for the comments by designated commentators like Yvonne Abraham, angry that America, the first great republic of modern times, should waste its time watching people whose ancestors robbed, plundered and pillaged amongst us. Have we forgotten that, well have we? Slow down, darling', most assuredly you have got your knickers in a twist... and every word beside the point. Our interest in this marriage and attendant events has absolutely nothing to do with being seduced away from our republican constitution and government. Even the question is silly. First, many millions amongst us have a high regard for the old countries of the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Ireland. They are part of our history and heritage. To abjure them is to abjure a part of ourselves. Why would we ever want to do that? Even the Founding Fathers didn't advocate such a course. The men who had toppled George III and his emblems in every colony worked hard after the Revolution to establish diplomatic relations with England. Then they worked long and hard to turn mere relations into an alliance of heart and mind, not just politics and commerce. The United Kingdom, whose monarchy we rebelled against and expelled from our land, is now our closest ally and friend. Suppose for a moment that you had once quarrelled with your parents. Suppose terrible things, regrettable things were done and said by you and them. Would that end matters, in grief and recrimination? Certainly not, for are they not your parents still and have you no regard for them and the good things they did? And here's the point: if they invited you to an important event, say a wedding, would you refuse to be friends again? You'd go of course, for auld lang syne. That is why billions of people will gather round their television sets this Friday, April 29. for us on this side of the Pond at very early hours indeed. We shall watch closely, commenting freely and, for nearly all, in good humor. And when these young now married people go onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace for The Kiss, our hearts will go out to them, not as gaudy royalty but as good people on whose slender shoulders a valued thousand year old institution will in due course be placed. Then they will surely need from us not just cheers, but support. They shall have it from me. One last word for you, Mother Abraham. In 1999 the citizens of Australia voted in a national referendum about whether to abolish the monarchy and become the Republic of Australia, or not. Your fellow citizens voted 55-45 percent to keep the Windsors and the monarchy. |
