Kate and Prince William’s Nuptials: Who Cares?

Today is a recount-free zone here at my blog, mostly because I actually observed the statewide Wisconsin mandatory judicial recount for myself and am exhausted from doing so.  This is why I decided to look at the other huge worldwide issue — that of Prince William of England’s upcoming wedding to Kate Middleton — and have come to a decision regarding my feelings on the matter.

To wit: who cares?

Honestly, I don’t get the hype here that has provoked story after story after story on network news, cable news, and on the Internet.  It’s not like this is a sudden thing — after all, Kate and Prince William have dated for seven years, right?   So while I’ll give Kate and the Prince some real props for their persistence, and some more for getting to know each other very well before committing to a marriage, I still do not understand the build-up to the royal wedding.

Yes, Prince William is the likely successor to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as it’s rumored that his father, Prince Charles, will be bypassed in William’s favor.  Yes, Prince William, like his brother Prince Harry, looks very much like his deceased mother, Princess Diana; yes, his mother would assuredly be very proud of her son getting married regardless of his station.  (There’s more press when you’re royal, true.  But any mother is likely to feel much the same, royalty or no, when her son is about to walk down the aisle and make a lifelong commitment.)

Still.  I did understand some of the hype behind the Prince Charles and the then-Lady Diana Spencer because she was quite young (twenty, I think), appeared quite innocent, and she was leaving her entire way of life behind at such a young age.  She was young, fresh-faced, entrancing in her perceived innocence and someone everyone in the world could root for because of all of these qualities.

This marriage — well, it’s not the same.  Both Prince William and Kate Middleton are in their late twenties, and are not seen as young, innocent, immature, naïve, entrancing in their innocence — no, none of that.  And while that’s actually helpful to their long-term hopes for a marriage (the better you know each other, the better chance you have for a successful marriage), it doesn’t exactly make for a riveting story-line.

Part of the reason the Prince Charles-Lady Diana wedding was so interesting to watch was the contrast between the then-kindergarten teacher/assistant Diana and her betrothed, Prince Charles — an international bon vivant, painter, polo player, sometime diplomat and much, much more.  And Charles was considerably older than Diana when he married her; she was only 20, and he was 32. 

So what we had in the Charles-Diana wedding was a handfasting of opposites, and that was compelling theatre that interested many.  While what we have now in the William-Kate nuptials is more the meeting of the minds, two people who know each other well and seem much better-prepared to marry, and while that’s all well and good for both their personal and dynastic hopes, a compelling drama it does not make.

So I reiterate: Why should I care about this wedding, again?