Pleased As Punch

The Royal Wedding and Me

London Day 3…THE BEST SO FAR

I cannot believe my luck in being able to be in London today. April 29, 2011, the day of the Royal Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Elizabeth Middleton. For months I have been looking forward to this day. I have also been nervous about being able to see it all. There are at least an extra million people in London today for the event. I knew it would be chaotic. But somehow, I managed to see it all. The whole time, I kept thinking, Pia will be so happy! She will be so proud! (Pia is a great family friend in Utah who drilled it into my head that if I did not attend the wedding, she would probably kill meJ. Love you, Pia, aren’t you proud?!)

We arrived at Buckingham Palace at 6 a.m. People had been camping out for days before then. But we got lucky. We dismissed the idea that we would be able to see the balcony kiss, but at least we knew we would see the procession. So we staked out a spot about three rows of people behind the barrier. Not bad, eh?

Me, Kristen, Taylor, and Andrea

We waited and waited. We were standing for about 7 hours plus probably another 1.5 hours of walking around. My feet are thanking me for sitting down right now. ( in this picture we are sitting. we sat for about 5 minutes. too dirty and cramped to sit.)

There were two snobby blonde British ladies in front of us. When the crowd started increasing, we were forced to move forward. Well this lady was sitting in a camping chair. I accidently bumped lightly into her, and she turned around and said something rude to me. Oh well. A few minutes later, she gave me a chocolate bar and said, “I’m feeling friendlier. Have a chocolate. I was horrible before, I’m sorry!” Hmmm. That was awkward, but nice and I was starving. It was oats and ginger pieces covered in dark chocolate and I’m pretty sure my mom would LOVE it, so I’ll have to find some and bring them home. Then when the wedding procession neared and the crowd began pushing forward, of course I was forced to accidently put a little crowd pressure on this lady, who had the most space around her of anyone. She had a chair and bags surrounding her, so she shouldn’t have complained, but she turned around and said, “I swear if you push into me one more time…” (Picture a snobby British accent from a lady in her 40s.) “I am sorry, I wasn’t pushing you, though. The crowd is all pushing forward.” “You’re, joking! If someone pushes you, push back!” What a wannabe killjoy! I say wannabe because she didn’t really kill my joy. I was in heaven. I was witnessing an ordinary woman become a princess. I was watching the Royal family pass by me, just a few yards away. It was incredible! What a horrid lady. Oh well, at least I discovered my first favorite British snack by accidently (and as we were in a large and excited crowd, by default) bothering the bitter woman!

Sydney, Me, and Tara (and the bitter lady's friend behind Tara! (blonde))

So here is how the day went (after the waiting around forever):

Lots of guards going by

At least 3 royal marching bands

Lots of nice cars. Mostly Rolls-Royces, BMW’s, Land Rovers, and (my dream car) Range Rovers.

The first car to leave was the one carrying Prince William. I caught a glimpse of his smile and his shiny gold shoulder pads!

Then a lot of other high status people were driven by. They waved at us. The women were all wearing funny proper British hats. The hats were really fun to see. They were wild! I really don’t understand the hat thing. I think they look hilarious on these poor women who are just trying to look high society! Maybe I am ignorant. But I didn’t see a single hat that I wished was on my head. We saw the French ambassador. That is the only one that people around seemed to recognize. Oh also, there was a news reporter woman that everyone around us got really excited about. “There’s Gabby Logan, the Scottish reporter!” they all cried.

AND THEN, I SAW THE QUEEN. Queen Victoria. She and her husband, the Duke of Edinburough were driven past us in a maroon Rolls-Royce. She was cute as can be in her yellow ensemble (overcoat and matching hat). I was awestruck when I saw her. I was jittery after seeing the Prince, and just plain awestruck with the Queen. I mean really, it’s Queen Elizabeth II. Incredible!

(Yes, this is the Queen and her husband.)

And then there was a long pause. The crowd started to chant, “We want Kate! We want Kate!” And Kate we got. We were able to get a glimpse of the top of her dress and see that it was along sleeve lace v-neck. The actual ceremony was broadcasted on speakers, so we got to listen to the entire thing. What a sweet ceremony. What a cute and so obviously in love couple. Everyone cheered several times throughout the ceremony. When they were finally pronounced man and wife, came the loudest cheer.

Now comes the most exciting part: The procession back to Buckingham Palace.

It started with a bunch of gold armored men on black horses, followed by the happy Royal Couple in their beautiful red carriage. Kate and William were stunning. She is such a beautiful woman. And here choice in wedding gown was very tasteful, glamorous, gorgeous, and so princess like. It also fit her style very well. I loved it. The next carriage had the cute little bridesmaids, pageboys, and the maid of honor, Phillipa. Then came the Queen and the Duke again! I love the Queen! And they were followed by Prince Charles, Camilla, and Mr. and Mrs. Middleton. Oh what a day! We got to see the entire Royal family! AND a royal marching band. (I love marching bands. I have been made fun of multiple times for loving marching bands), and the craziness of British people loyal to their royals! (last night, we felt like we were at the Harry Potter World Cup! These people really get into it!)

Phillipa and the bridesmaids and page boys

The Queen and her husband again

The Middletons, Charles and Camilla. Camilla is the lady you can see with the big hat.

We knew we wouldn’t be able to get to a spot where the balcony was visible, so we started to head out.

It took forever with all the people going through narrow walkways to leave the palace. But then, we noticed that, wait….there was plenty of space to see the balcony. So we sprinted toward the Victoria memorial, and we got a spot about halfway between the gate and the memorial. We got a great view of the Royal family waving to its subjects on the balcony. The couple kissed twice. And I felt complete. I had seen everything I wanted to see. I knew that I could come back to Pia’s house with my head help up high. “I did it, Pia. I braved the crowds and I saw Will and Kate kiss on the balcony!” She tells me that someday, when William is King, I want to be able to tell my children that I saw him kiss his queen on the balcony. Haha I am so glad to be able to say that. Thanks for the push, Pia! I would have felt extremely guilty if I had not been able to see all this, and I am so glad I did! I still feel the rush from all the excitement, all the once-in-a-life time events. Today was incredible! I feel like I am part of a major historical event! And it was kind of funny…when the guards in the red and the black furry hats were doing their thing, I felt a little bit of British pride. I thought, this is my country. This is where I am from. My grandpa was born here. Ok I am an American through and through, but hey, can’t I feel a little pride from where I came from?

Today was amazing. I can’t wait to watch the ceremony on TV later. What an amazing day!

The Royal Family: Mr. Middleton, Mrs. Middleton, Charles, Camilla, bridesmaids, Kate, William, bridesmaid and page boys, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburough, Phillipa, Prince Harry, and...shoot I can't tell who that is on the end.