4:47 a.m.: Oprah makes her entrance.
Among the invited guests now entering the chapel is global media personalty Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah is wearing lilac dress with sunglasses and a large hat. She is seated in the A-List section in the chapel's quire.
-- William Booth
4:39 a.m.: The scene at St. George's Chapel
You say "chapel," you may think small, intimate. But St George’s Chapel, completed by Henry VIII in 1528, is a soaring masterpiece -- of what we are told is a classic of the “perpendicular gothic” style. The Washington Post and colleagues were given a quick peek insider for “atmospherics.” The floral arrangements are a wild meadow of aromatic whites: mayflowers and dusky cranebills. The towering arrangements were designed by the florist Philippa Craddock as a “cascading hedge-grow.” Smells heavenly.
-- William Booth
4:18 a.m.: Does this woman look like Meghan Markle?
That’s what one person thought. He approached Layla Morris, 38, who works in credit control, and asked if she was the actress from “Suits.” As a fan of “Suits,” herself, Morris was amused. “I watched all of Suits. Meghan stood out. She as the girl you wanted to be,” she says.
She lives 90 minutes away and brought her children, 7 and 3, to Windsor to soak up the atmosphere. “They are very excited, but can’t understand why they are not invited.”
-- Karla Adam
4:08 a.m.: Not everyone is royal wedding mad
Let’s be clear: Much of this city is royal wedding crazy. The dogs are wearing Union Jack-themed scarves, for heaven’s sake. But venture off the main streets around Windsor Castle, and you’ll find residents whose thoughts on the wedding can best be described as meh.
“It’s just another day. I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” says Leon Johnson, 34, a gas engineer who is pushing a buggy near water fountains that barefoot children were gleefully running through.
He wishes the royal couple well, for sure, and says that Markle’s background “broke the mold” of what it meant to be a royal. (She's a biracial American divorcee with an established career.) But he says that the vendors selling royal souvenirs on the main streets around the castle are “a money-making scam.”
Will he least turn on the telly to catch a glimpse of the global spectacle on his doorstep?
He might “take a little peak,” he says, but stresses he wouldn’t linger long. “There is football on!”
Today is the FA Cup final, with Chelsea playing Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in London.
-- Karla Adam
4:03 a.m.: "It means a lot in terms of race relations"
Marzy Bedford-Billinghurst, 60, an American who grew up in Britain and now lives in Washington, says that once she heard about the wedding, as a black woman who has biracial children, she decided she had to come.
“It means a lot in terms of race relations,” she says. That the fact that the royal family, “of all entities, would modernize themselves and embrace this woman of color because the prince loves her -- that just means so much to me. I’m just overjoyed. I think she’s just wonderful, fabulous and I’m just so excited.”
-- Karla Adam
3:52 a.m.: It's five o'clock somewhere
Craig Skinner, 28, and Alex Cox, 28, are sipping gin and tonics. When asked what they are drinking, Cox responds: “Want one?”
This is Cox’s second royal wedding, but the first one he’s watching from the ground. At William and Kate’s wedding in 2011, he was one of those riding a horse as part of the Household Cavalry, a personal escort for the royal family. “It’s a lot of pressure, a lot of stress,” he said, noting this time he is happy to just enjoy “all the good British pomp and ceremony” as a spectator.
-- Karla Adam
3:46 a.m.: The scene from sun-kissed Windsor
Windsor is a gorgeous city, with Windsor Castle, the queen’s weekend residence, towering dramatically over the scene. Today, the sun-kissed city looks something like a festival: There are bubble machines, dogs wearing scarves, people of all ages wearing fake crowns. Many people camped out overnight in order to get the best view of the carriage procession.
Street vendors are hawking British flags and American flags. There are ladies with ridiculously fabulous hats that look like small UFOs. The local Marks & Spencer has (temporarily?) changed its name to Markle & Sparkle. A local pub has permanently changed its name to the “Prince Harry.” If Harry & Meghan-themed merchandise is your thing -- everything from tea-towels to life-sized cardboard cutouts of the smiling couple -- this is the place to be.
-- Karla Adam
3:44 a.m.: Who has traveled furthest for this wedding?
Peter McFarlane, 52, a health aide from Australia could be a contender for that title. We have met people who have flown in from the United States, Canada and Jamaica, but McFarlane hopped on a “27-hour bloody flight” from Australia to be at -- or nearish -- the nuptials. He slept on the street on Friday night, where it was “bloody freezy, this bloody English summer,” in hopes of keeping his prime position to see the carriage procession.
He wanted to come in person since, he figured, this was the last royal wedding for some time. “I had to make the effort,” he said, waving Union Jack flags in each hand.
-- Karla Adam
3:23 a.m.: Inside the castle walls
Harry and Meghan invited 2,640 “regular” folk to attend the wedding and watch from the gardens inside the Windsor Castle walls. These guests represent charities the couple, especially Harry, has supported over the years -- like Surfers against Sewage, and environmental and veterans groups.
Alan Scott, 69, from Lincolnshire has been involved in British Scouting for 45 years. He and his wife set up lawn chairs outside St George’s Chapel. “Splendid!” Scott said. “I think it’s amazing that we are all invited.”
Scott brought a picnic hamper of pork pies. "And some champagne," said his partner, Julie Frisby.
-- William Booth
2:41 a.m.:
The streets of Windsor town are lined with Harry and Meghan fans, wearing paper crowns and plastic tiaras. Some have spent the night camped out.
Security is tight. Specialist squads of police hefting automatic rifles stand sentry by the statute of the late Queen Victoria outside the Henry VIII gate to Windsor Castle.
Vendors selling royal wedding “tat” -- British slang for souvenirs -- are doing brisk business.
-- William Booth
2:30 a.m.:
You want regal pageantry, gilded spectacle, the royal Ascot Landau carriage pulled by a pair of father-and-son Windsor Grey horses? The Archbishop of Canterbury bedecked in his robes, the St. George’s Chapel Choir belting out the choral anthems to the rafters? Then good morning to you.
Britain's Prince Harry is set to wed American actress Meghan Markle, and they'll be treating us to full-on fairy tale, complete with a pint-size prince and princess as page boy and bridesmaid.
Markle will be driven from Cliveden House manor to the medieval masterwork of St. George’s Chapel, within the walls of Windsor Castle, where she will be warmly welcomed by a polite backdrop of 1,200 invited do-gooders from favored charities.
There will be the Reveal of the Dress. The Kensington Palace PR squad will blast the details. Then Prince Charles, Harry’s father, will walk his future daughter-in-law down the aisle. (Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, has been sidelined by heart problems and media-induced stress.)
Bishop Michael Curry, the first African American to preside over the Episcopal Church, is to deliver a sermon. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will lead the couple in vows from the Book of Common Prayer.
Immediately afterward, the couple, who will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will parade by carriage through the streets of Windsor town, where as many as 100,000 Brits and foreign visitors will be wearing outrageous hats and waving Union Jacks and the Stars and Stripes to celebrate the ultimate in special relationships: Harry’s royal marriage to a California girl.
We'll have live coverage. Follow our updates here.
Read more: Want think pieces? History? Hats? We've got you covered.
Where and how to watch the royal wedding
What Meghan Markle means to black Brits
From Henry VIII to Meghan Markle, how the Church of England has shifted on divorce
After the royal wedding, will Meghan Markle have to rein in her activism?
Royal wedding FAQ: All the gossip you really wanted to know
Video: Everything you need to know about royal wedding hats
Video: British kids on the royal wedding and American accents
Quiz: Test your knowledge of royal wedding trivia
from WorldViews https://ift.tt/2wSD5k3
Comments
Post a Comment