A Fine Romance – 75 Years of Royal Weddings
(Wild Dog Press/PQ Blackwell, R275)
Will and Kate are splendidly wed and, cynically speaking, it’s now just a question of creating that heir and spare.
Merchandise-wise, Buckingham Palace has jumped on the band wagon, with the new royal wedding exhibition featuring the dress, tiara, shoes, earrings and a couple of tiers of cake.
As for other post-wedding goodies, books are still being churned out – from endless gushing gossipy tomes, to somewhat startling offerings such as Royal Wedding: A Dress-Up Dolly Book or Knit Your Own Royal Wedding.
This picture-laden, two-part coffee table book initially whisks the reader through 90 pages of majestic European nuptials, some mired in controversy.
A good two thirds of the glossy pages then dwell on the romance which royal watchers hope will be a real fairy tale, from beginning to end – that of William and Catherine.
But, it is the photos of some earlier royal weddings, linked to astonishing revelations, (some more well known than others), which really fascinate.
To avoid any more of a constitutional crisis, after announcing he wished to marry twice-wed American socialite Wallis Simpson, King Edward VIII abdicated from the British throne in 1936. The king became the Duke of Windsor.
Several pages of the post World War II joy of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten follow. The attractive couple gaze at each other with real love, while some in the grand family portrait look grim!
Grace Patricia Kelly, easily the most beautiful and stylish of all the brides, and Prince Rainier III of Monaco are another couple with the look of love. Notably there was no kiss – much commented upon by the press. Sadly, of late, 55 years on, the wedding of their son did feature a kiss which, for many, did not ring true.
Princess Margaret, looking unusually frumpy, is pictured announcing her engagement, in 1960, to Anthony Armstrong Jones.
Two years later, Princess Sofia of Greece nabbed Prince Juan Carlos of Spain, while Princess Irene of the Netherlands caused a political ruckus in 1964 by marrying, in Rome, Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Parma.
Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard, her parents refused to attend.
An odd, but rather fabulous picture shows Princess Anne, of the UK, hand in hand with Captain Mark Philips, wearing a white dress to die for. Her actual wedding dress was not nearly as flattering.
Prize for the worst dress, (a round-necked slab of unforgiving, shapeless satin) has to go to attractive Silvia Renate Sommerlath, bride of the Swedish King Carl Gustaf, in 1976.
The doomed marriages of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles and Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew feature, as do Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, while “heavy partying former waitress” single mother Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby is another controversial bride. Married to Crown Prince Haakom of Norway, locals dubbed her four-year-old son the “charm troll”… Still very much together, the couple were seen, of late, comforting victims of the Utoya island massacre.
In all, 159 evocative pictures, many of marriages which, sadly, failed.
The final page includes Prince William and Catherine’s wedding prayer “…In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.”
Not a bad prayer to marry and live by.