Listening to and watching the royal weddings

Breathes there a girl who never dreamed of becoming a princess. It is the Cinderella story that has been told and retold and been rehashed and rehashed and will be retold and rehashed forever and ever. But never to inanity. As long as baby girls continue to be born and are brought up believing in princes and princesses in fairy tales, they will all dream of becoming princesses.

That is the reason why almost a billion people from all over the world watched on TV when the Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles in St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29,1981. Charles, the Prince of Wales was the most eligible bachelor royal and the heir to the British throne. He was not as handsome as his father Prince Philip looked in old pictures but he cut a dashing figure.  As for Diana, she was a bright-eyed 20-year old marrying a prince, just like what every girl dreams of. 

Of course, over the years, it was found that Charles was not so princely after all and that Diana could be as scandalous in behavior as some common girls. The revelations that became gossip fodder all over the world and her tragic car accident in Paris left the monarchy shaken to bits. But for a few hours on that July day, they were the fulfillment of fairy tales. 

For the first time in British history, a royal wedding was recorded live and the entire ceremony was released in a special album. Titled The Royal Wedding of H.R.H. The Prince Of Wales And The Lady Diana Spencer, the live recorded Vinyl LP edition came in an album of gorgeous photographs of the pair and featured the entire service from the arrival of the bride who marched to Henry Purcell’s Trumpet Tributary to the recessional of the bride and bridegroom to the tune of Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Op.39 No. 4.

Diana’s gorgeous wedding gown was difficult to hack for ordinary girls. It needed a statuesque bride inside. But if they could not wear that dress, then they could march to the same music that she did to. And that was why brides of that time decided to ditch Mendelson’s Wedding March and Wagner’s Bridal Chorus that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip marched to years before in favor of Purcell and Elgar.

The wedding of Charles and Diana’s eldest son, Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton was held at the Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2000. It was just as anticipated and was seen by more than a billion people all over the world.  Not only on TV but also on Facebook, streaming sites and other platforms on the Internet. In fact, the event notched a record-breaking 72 million livestreams on YouTube alone. An album was also released featuring the music played. 

Elgar, one of Britain’s great composers dominated the repertoire, led by the three movements from his Serenade in E Minor, Op.20 to the Allegro and Allegreto of the Organ Sonata, Op.28 to the recessional march, again the Pomp And Circumstance, Op.39: V but March No. 5 instead of the No. 4 that Diana used. There were also Bach’s popular Fantasia in G Minor BWV 572; psalms like This Is The Day The Lord Hath Made by John Rutter: and originals like Valiant And Brave in honor of the 22nd Squadron where William served as a search and rescue pilot.

Another royal wedding is in the offing and this is the most Cinderella story of them all. Charles and Diana’s youngest son Harry is marrying Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor on May 19. Details of what will happen are still hush hush at this point but the event will be witnessed by more people than ever and again I quote the phrase, all over the world.

The iconic Decca Records of Britain will release the live recording of the wedding service within hours after it ends and which will be distributed digitally by MCA Music. It was also Decca which recorded the other weddings, plus the funeral of Princess Diana. Not only that, the entire ceremony will be available globally on all streaming services for the first time ever. Decca will make a donation per album sold to support the charitable work of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and of Prince Harry which Markle will soon join.

Of course, the fact that a royal wedding can now be seen entirely on the web is proof of how much the British throne is making efforts to modernize itself. But that is only the cherry on top of the ice cream. The bulk of heady sweetness comes from Meghan herself who is bringing several earthshaking firsts to the royal family. 

The 36-year-old beauty is an American of mixed Caucasian and African American parentage. She is an actress who was educated in Catholic private schools in Hollywood. She has been married once and is divorced. She has a double major college degree in Theater Arts and International Studies from Northwestern University. 

I have a feeling that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are now rolling in their graves, sneering, “Papayag din pala sila.”