April 29th is the day Prince William and Kate Middleton will be married. Now, this fact is all well and good, the Prince of England will be marrying his long time girlfriend, nearly no controversy, unlike his Aunts, Uncles and other members of his own family.
What I want to talk about is the merchandising bonanza that this wedding is bringing. Cups, plates, dolls, rings, even condoms are being made of the couple or aspects of their engagement. What does this mean? Does this show a lack of respect for the sanctity of marriage, or of the royal family? Or does this show a renewed interest in the Royal family?
My answer is all of the above. As we all know the Royal Family in England has very little power. The Queen of England is the Head of State, but not the Head of government. This means that she doesn’t write laws, she doesn’t control the affairs of government, she’s a ceremonial figurehead that the British people pay for with their taxes. And the people of the British Empire have seemed all well and good to pay for this family’s room and board for hundreds of years.
But after all of the controversy of the last 20 years, many people believed that when the current Queen died that would be the end of the monarchy. But Princess Diana and Prince Charles had two gorgeous boys and all of that changed. Young girls gave a hoot about the monarchy, especially because there were two hot guys living in Windsor Castle. Now a “middle class” girl is marrying Prince Charming, and I think this new interest is going to help continue the monarchy. With the merchandising, it was the same when William’s Dad married his mom, without the condoms. I can’t wait to see her dress.
