Kate and William are now man and wife.
Add Duchess of Cambridge and Prince to the above mentioned names and the world goes into frenzy over what is termed as the Royal Wedding. Or at least the media makes one believe so.
The Royal Wedding showed the world in the modern era of democracy monarchy still has many takers when it comes to celebrations.
To everyone its own, interpretations of the wedding and the significance of hosting a lavish gala was debated by some, but for most in Britain and elsewhere the well marketed wedding was a get away from the daily dose of gloom.
Marketed to the hilt and planned to perfection, the event made into an extravaganza even in times of austerity.
The Guardian stressed how the Duchess of Cambridge was denied the title of Princess.
It reports:
“The Queen’s conferring of the ancient title of Duke of Cambridge on her grandson just hours before the ceremony deprived his wife of the title Princess Catherine. But she is a duchess, which is several rungs up the social ladder than her standing before entering the 1,000-year-old abbey this morning.”
A hint enough that class still matters in Quality press as in Zone 1-2 circles of London.
Its counterparts in Britain treaded similar lines and speculations depending on their inclinations and those some 7000kms away (read Indian media) though not much aware of the customs, traditions of the British royals were busy debating about the dress of Kate middloeton..err the Duchess of Cambridge, or whether or not she will make it on time and the best was saved for the guest list.
After flipping through some five Indian channels all I could understand that the only call it elite/celebrity guests invited were Sir Elton John and David Beckham with his wife Posh. Rest they and their overseas correspondents were clueless on the guest list.
Barring the report in TOI which talked about austerity and tries to put things in perspective no body in Indian media seems to have any clue, but were busy dishing out the Royal wedding in one of the most trash formats.
The best part of the coverage was when an English news channel anchor asked the guests on air to rest their voices for a while and let people see the Live images. That silence for me was golden, it shoed me what was happening on ground sans trash commentary.
Thankfully unlike the weddings of Indian celebs which last a couple of days, in a matter of couple of hours the Royalty wrapped the show and invited 650 of the 1900 guests for the reception, leaving the rest to devote the rest of airtime, fill reams of newsprint and people like me to blog.
Best wishes to the newly married couple, wake up in the morning and relive the frenzy this time courtesy scribes.