The
latest news on the next hey-everyone-look-over-here royal wedding
includes details about Prince Charles getting frustrated with
the media. (Or, I would imagine more accurately and likely, with
a wing of the media… the paparazzi.)
I’ve
been watching the news of the upcoming nuptials with an arched
eyebrow. From questions about if the title of Queen will be an
option for Camilla to the officially lodged objections, I’ve been
taking it in.
And
while I have mentioned some things a time or two on this web site,
I’m not English and I don’t live in England. I’m finding it hard
to gauge the truth and the emotion from that perspective.
Ahh…
but I have some quality resources into the subject.
Yup…
I know people.
Here
you will find some information from Nick and Keris. I e-mailed
them recently and asked them what they thought, which included
my mentioning what I had heard of as a process where the time
was coming for objections being due. I didn’t know such a thing
existed… a way of registering formal objections and a deadline
for doing so. Both of them got back to me with some great material,
and with the wedding now less than a week away, I thought I’d
share some of their thoughts with you.
Nick
is my brother-in-law. He is English, but for more than the past
ten years has spent some time living in the United States and
most of his time living in Australia. He is currently in Australia
with my sister and their family.
Keris
currently lives in England. (Update… Keris had not participated
in so much around In My Backpack as she has since this
was originally written. Learn more about her in the Extras
section.)
Nick
~ Not sure I can reply on behalf of the average Englishman having
not lived there for so long, however I’m sure it is getting
a fair amount of airtime over there.
There
was something in the papers over here about it saying that legally,
the marriage certificate can’t be issued until all objections
have been heard. I guess for most people it is covered off with
the question in the ceremony whether anyone has any objections.
However, your average wedding doesn’t get quite as much press
coverage. I understand that the objections are not required
to be revealed but they could relate to any of the following:
A)
Religious grounds. Divorce is allowable in the Church of England
however some elements still disagree with it.
B) Legal grounds. Apparently, there is some ambiguity in the
law where Royals are concerned but the smart money says it
is legal.
C) Good taste (this could apply to both of them).
D) Somebody just trying to be a pain.
Charles
is over here on a whirlwind visit. While he was in Alice Springs,
one of the bars threw a bucks party in his honour even giving
away free beer. They showed some clips on the TV and even though
Charles failed to show, the guys there seemed to be having a
great time.
Keris ~ I have no
idea!
I
haven’t yet spoken to anyone who cares one way or the other.
I think most people think the past situation, i.e. Charles and
Camilla ‘carrying on’ while he was married to Diana and their
behaviour in relation to that, to be pretty despicable, and
I haven’t actually met anyone who claims to like Camilla, but
I don’t see how them getting married affects anyone, so… who
cares?
As
for the objections: I hadn’t heard about this. I think it might
just be the same kind of thing as in the wedding service when
it says something along the lines of anyone having any ‘just
cause or impediment why these two should not wed’ (don’t you
have that in the US service?). I didn’t think anyone ever really
objected and the people who have objected are probably nutters.
As
for the legal objections, they are based on specific points
of law, but it’s all very petty and I don’t think it will get
anywhere. It is a bit embarrassing that they’d arranged to marry
in Windsor Castle and then had to change their plans when they
realised that would mean us plebs would be able to marry there
too! I think they just assumed that, since they’re royalty,
they could do whatever they wanted. Ah, well.
Great
stuff from both of them… insightful and pretty cool. I hadn’t
given much thought to the old “speak now or forever hold their
peace” and such idea surrounding the pretty standard objection
portion of the wedding service, and yet both Nick and Keris pointed
at it. Duh… kind of upset with myself for missing that. Both also
indicated that the people filing the objections are probably more
or less doing it just because they can… to be a pain… rather than
to actually object for any real reason.
I
thought Nick’s idea of someone objecting out of good taste was
a great line… and you have to understand Nick and his fabulously
dry British sense of humor to get the full flavor of that remark.
Brilliant. I also really liked Keris pointing out that for a lot
of people… and this is effectively for people around the world…
the couple isn’t going to earn many nods of approval given the
full history.
In
any event, thanks to both of them for their help.
I
think Keris sums it up the best… Nutters.
~ ~
~ ~ ~
In
the early days of the In My Backpack web site, I was
trying several different ways to present material.
My
journal entries were referred to as “A Momentary Lapse…” for
a period of time, which eventually transitioned to “Are you
chewing gum?” for a bit. Eventually, after a few restarts, modifications,
and relaunches, the Now Playing area took over.
One
of occasional segments—appearing perhaps ten times a year or
so—was called Random Thoughts, which I described as…
Too
long for “A Momentary Lapse…”… Not enough for a full article…
Need to get them off my “ideas to work on” list…
This
essay was originally created and presented as a Random Thoughts
entry. I’m bringing it back as a From the Backpack offering
because I’m curious about the content and the effort. But, worth
noting, it may still seem a bit incomplete, needing more development,
and may or may not have gone through some additional edits and
re-writes beyond my usual finds when searching the archives.