Two Kisses: A Royal Wedding
“I will” twice. Kissing twice. Definitely worth waking up for. Will and Kate married this morning amidst trumpets and boys choirs, Union Jacks and peacock tail hats–millions of them.
I had a poignant moment living in Britain. As a group of friends, British and American we were sitting around trading accent impersonations of each other. One of the Americans asked a couple of British guys what they thought of the monarchy. One British guy kinda shrugged his shoulders and mumbled something. The other was visibly distressed and said, “How could you say that about the queen?”
As Americans we pride ourselves on getting rid of the monarchy in the revolution. It was almost shocking to me to hear a person revere the queen and it caused me to think. Do we really want the British to be like us Americans? I would argue no.
I wouldn’t want one without the other. Britain’s grounding in tradition and fanfare is balanced by America’s freedom and rebellion. A queen is like a rock-she never changes even when Prime Ministers come and go. We all need some grounding and some rebellion.
That’s what the two kisses are all about. One for tradition. One for rebellion.
A tribute to my own British Ancestors
I’m almost entirely British. There are a few strands of Scandinavian as well as German. I have one line of Armenian which happens to be where my last name comes from.
Most people don’t realize that Utah has the highest percentage of British hertitage in the United States because in the 1830s, 40s, 50s, and 60s many British immigrated straight to Utah and married each other. Due to relative isolation from the rest of the country, many of them retained a very distinctive British culture apart from the rest of the United States.
This was never so real for me as when I went to England to study and was invited over for Sunday dinner. Expecting a cultural experience, I found the dinner to be exactly what my grandmother fixes for her Sunday dinners. My grandmother grew up in a town of an especially high concentration of British in Utah.
It was a special experience for me. I realized that there must have been a time, when my ancestors were boarding their boats to leave when a few tears were shed for leaving their British homeland. And, I wonder if they didn’t hope in their hearts that their posterity would remember the sacrifice of their departure. And maybe remember the heritage. Today, amidst a royal wedding, I do remember that heritage.
They left to follow their new found religion, one of Joseph Smith and a book that captured their British hearts, the Book of Mormon. And that was the reason–probably would have stayed if it hadn’t been for that book.
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[...] Posted on Apr 29, 2011 | 0 comments Print FriendlyAudrey and I got up early, 5am, this morning for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine. My ancestry is primarily British and I’m very interested in the pageantry, pomp and circumstance of the monarchy. The ceremony was beautiful, reverent and included well-chosen music. The tall trees transformed Westminster Abbey into a majestic, springtime cathedral. Kate is beautiful and her dress was elegant and tasteful. William, in princely dress, will hopefully have more success navigating the balance between private and public responsibilities. For more about our British heritage click here. [...]
I am proud of my British heritage.
It was interesting to read your thoughts about the monarchy, etc. I must admit that I have always thought it is a rather silly, antiquated thing. The renaming of someone, like Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, seems rather arbitrary to me. But I do think Kate Middleton is lovely and couldn’t help but look at some of the recaps and pictures. A friend of mine, from DC actually, has been reposting things from this site: http://katemiddletonforthewin.tumblr.com/ — some of them are quite funny and clever.
This post reminded me of our romp through the England years ago. I loved how we reveled in our heritage and imagined what our lives would be like if our ancestors had stayed in Europe. I feel such a connection to Britain. I went crazy over the Royal Wedding and can’t get enough of BBC TV and movies (Thank you Netflix). I’m so glad my return to the “homeland” included many long talks and fun adventures with you!