The announcement of the official engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton last November 16, 2010, spurred mixed reactions from the public. Traditional royalists naturally criticized his choice of a wife, not only Miss Middleton comes from a middle-class background but she is also a commoner without any noble or royal lineage either of her parents’ side. But the ordinary public pleased that the eldest son of Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales will be marrying an ordinary woman to lessen the barrier that divides royalty from commoners.
Prince William and Kate Middleton during the announcement of their official engagement at the Clarence House
So what would be the complexities William and Kate would face in the future? Much speculations and predictions had been said on their future marriage, the pressure of being a member of the British royal family would surely take a huge toll on Kate’s privacy as she sometimes detested the prying eye of the media. But the day she will marry the future British King, she will forever endure the presence of the lens men whether she like it or not, that’s the high prize she would pay for marrying an heir to the highest throne on Earth.
The wedding will take place next year, 2011 and because Prince Charles has not yet ascended the British throne, Prince William’s wedding, except for security costs, will not be shouldered by the British government, it was reported that the Prince of Wales will foot the bill on the ceremony. William and Kate will not occupy any royal residences after the wedding, they will continue residing at the village of Anglesey in North Wales where they had been sharing an apartment since early this year. Prince William is currently assigned near Anglesey as a search-and-rescue operation pilot of the Royal Armed Forces.
View of Anglesey Village in North Wales, where William and Kate will take up a residence after the wedding
Television crews camped outside Buckingham Palace on the day of the announcement of the engagement
Kate Middleton.She will be having a hard time pleasing the other members of the royal family and the upper-class Britons because of her middle-class background
Recent updates say that Prince William has disagreement with his advisers regarding the date of his wedding, the Prince reportedly wanted to walk-down-the-aisle in spring next year, either March or April. Why the Prince is such in a hurry?
My opinion is this, maybe because he is busy with his career as a search-and-rescue-operation pilot of the Royal Armed Forces and wanted to get things done earlier. But I am thinking one more thing, maybe the Prince is afraid of public disenchantment towards his commoner fiancee, who is not welcome in the conservative circle of traditional royalists, there are even “black guest books” circulated in the internet denouncing Middleton’s suitability as the future Princess of Wales. Since the middle ages, no future British King ever married a middle-class woman.
Mugs commemorating the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton
different mugs designs commemorating the royal engagement
So how long the marriage will last? How long she could endure the criticism? It is a known fact that all the marriages of the three children of Her Majesty including her only sibling, Princess Margaret, to commoners, ended up in divorce, an evidence how the royal family members relate to the “outsiders” (their term for commoners). Though love should not be questioned, maybe royal duties and being constantly in the limelight add to the pressure and strain on the relationships. So the table is now turn to Kate Middleton, can she really handle the pressure of being in the public eye and the scrutiny of the public?
In February 1981, after the official engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was announced, she moved to Clarence House to live with the Queen Mother, then transferred to Buckingham Palace few months before the wedding to familiarize with the royal routine, she was tutored how to live a life of a Princess and how to function as the future Queen Consort. But in great contrast, Middleton, reportedly will not go through the same process, so the underlying question now, "Is Kate really prepared for the trappings of royalty?
The historical Westminster Abbey church where they planned to get married. The Abbey is one of the most important royal structures in England where English and British monarchs had been crowned for the past 800 years. The wedding of Prince William's grandparents on each side, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, Lord John Spencer the 8th Earl of Althorp and The Honorable Frances Burke-Roche, took place at Westminster. Only royalty and nobility could be married in Westminster Abbey.
It is uncommon for the couples not to engage in petty quarrels and heated arguments and the royal family is no exemption. So how about William and Kate? Well, some of the possible rows they will encounter later on maybe scarcity of time together. Prince William is quite devoted with his career in the military and his trainings on his future role as a monarch, Middleton might be left behind seating on the window wondering where her Prince is. I doubt if she would cook meals for her husband or do some laundry at home or stitch some patches on his clothes. She should take a career of her own and not just tag around with Prince William (the only thing she is quite expert of for the past eight years). She might disillusioned joining the royal family if she would just stay behind the shadow of her future husband just like what happened to Sarah Ferguson, the wife of William's uncle, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who became bored with her role as her husband was busy with his naval career.
Diana, Princess of Wales. She was the last aristocrat to marry a member of the British royal family. As a daughter of an English Earl, Diana was of noble birth her father was directly descended from King Charles II of England and her mother was a daughter of a rich English baron, the 4th Lord Fermoy, her grandparents were both serving the British royal court as Courtiers and Ladies-in-waiting. In British social class system, royalty stood at the top of humanity's ladder, birthright is more important than wealth and achievements, money never impressed the elite system of the royal family.
Their wedding might not be a state’s affair, but it would surely draw guests from different European royal houses and British aristocrats. I am just wondering how the middle-class family of Kate Middleton would fit in. Pomp and pageantry are where royals do their best,
Kate Middleton indeed is very lucky, considering that ordinary couples in the modern world divide the wedding costs equally among themselves, Middleton and her parents are free from financial obligations as the Prince of Wales will shoulder all the expenses from his private fortune, the wedding expenses are predicted to mount, more or less, $20 million!
The King-in-waiting, Prince Charles.He will shoulder the wedding expenses of his son
The Prince and Princess of Wales with the young Prince William
Princess Diana holding the 18-month-old Prince William during the royal tour in New Zealand
The Prince and Princess of Wales with 18-month-old Prince William
Though, Prince William has not heard publicly how many children he wanted, personally, I think they should have at least two, to cut budget on the part of the Parliament, because for sure, Prince William’s household will be included on the civil list as he is not yet the heir-apparent, the Duchy of Cornwall is still under his father’s care. But I doubt if Kate really could produce a child, I am just thinking (or wishing) of any barrenness on her part so as not to give the British throne heirs with no aristocratic names build on the mother’s side, well, hmmm…just part of my wild imagination.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William's grandmother. She is the first British monarch in 500 years who allowed commoners to join her direct family, but all these marriages ended up in divorce. Interestingly, Queen Elizabeth II is one of the last two European monarchs (the other is King Juan Carlos of Spain whose wife, Queen Sophia, is a daughter of King Paul of Greece) who has a royal spouse, her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is a former Greek Prince (first cousin of King Paul).
With her middle-class background, Kate will surely receive a cold treatment from the upper-class Britons and from Prince William’s own family, the British monarchy is known for their upper-lip system and seems detested “outsiders”, maybe Middleton is accepted on the surface but not privately, I could hear the grinding of the teeth of the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra of Kent and some traditional royalists. Prince William’s position as a future British King maybe made the family think he could have chosen a woman with noble birth and with royal pedigree or anybody from the upper-class to rightly produce royal children. Middleton will be isolated in her own and lonely world and will eventually lost the fascination she once held for Prince William. I am even thinking a situation where they would possibly end up in divorce.
The late Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince William's mother. The Prince is quite devoted to his mother. He revealed several times how much he and his brother, Prince Harry, missed their mother, "Not a day goes passed without thinking about her", he once told the BBC news. On the day he was engaged he told the British press he decided to give Middleton the engagement ring which his father presented to his mother in February 1981 to be sure Diana would not be missed out on the important occasion. The exquisite oval-shaped blue sapphire ring surrounded with 18 diamonds is very precious to Diana, which she wore everyday of her life even after her divorce from the Prince of Wales in 1996.
The precious engagement ring which valued at $50,000 in 1981 created by crown jeweler, Garrads. Here the ring is seen in Kate's finger (left) and Princess Diana (right)
May the future marriage of Prince William will not bite a dust as what happened to the marriages of his royal relatives who took commoner spouses. For more news about the Prince's engagement click "older posts" below. Thank you to Miss Katia Mishchuk of Ukraine for liking my royal blog and for sending a request.
(Is there any royal topic, with focus on European royalty, you want to read in my blog? please feel free to send your request via "Contact Me" page of this blog, I would be very glad to write about it. Thank you--Joyce)
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