Beautiful, wasn't it?
Naturally I watched it. I watched it for nearly seven hours. I'm in general a republican (not in an American politics way, I just favour the Republic model over Monarchy) but in the case of weddings, and I'm guessing Coronations, I don't care. Those Royals can put on a show! I LOVE weddings. I'm barely old enough to get married and I already read wedding blogs religiously and have a folder full of wedding pictures on my desktop that I sometimes watch as montage while listening to the Glee version of 'Marry You.'
Anyway, this is what I thought about during the wedding: Would I really want to be a Princess? My initial reaction was "Well, yeah! Why the hell wouldn't you?"
But as I watched Kate Middleton's wedding, it struck me as kind of over-churchy. I'm all for traditional services if that's what the couple wants, but this one was just extra-impersonal. So out-of-touch with showing who the couple is and how their love grew. If I was Kate Middleton at that moment, I would be thinking: "Jeez! We've prayed three times now! Can't we mention me already?"
In a word: it was Royal. In a sense it did reflect the couple because they are a Royal couple and no matter what, that's really all they'll ever be defined as. I'm not feeling sorry for them, but I can see that being only 'Princess' and all the hoopla and public engagement that go with it isn't for everyone. I realised as I watched that I wouldn't want the 'me' me to melt away under public scrutiny and court protocol. I love the 'me' me. I can do whatever I want as a career and be who I want in the meantime. But if I was a Princess, to a certain extent, 'Princess' would be my job, my identity, my everything.
So maybe my childhood dreams of marrying a Prince really have gone. I remember the message of one of my favourite children's books, A Little Princess. Every girl is a Princess inside, you can be a Princess if you believe it and act like one, no matter how much money you have or if you have a crown or kingdom or anything. I'm not explaining this very well, just read the book, it's by Francis Hodgson Burnett.
So, bottom line. I don't want to be a Princess. I'm going to get a Law Degree, and get my licence to practice law, and I'm going to always believe that I AM a Princess inside, just like Sara in A Little Princess.
I'll be Princess Belle, Attorney-at-Law.
Which has a rather nice ring, don't you think?
Picture originally created by John Pannell, used with a Creative Commons license
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