She seems a nice enough girl - but who in their right mind would want to walk willingly into a prison cell of continual public scrutiny and tedious royal duties? No, this is definitely no fairy tale, despite the attempts of the media to construct one. What I came away with, after the admittedly beautiful wedding service, was not the sight of the frocks and the fascinators, the pop stars and the football stars, the waistcoated diplomats and the louche aristocrats, the stunning bride and her nervous, royal groom - but the sound of Archbishop Rowan Williams's richly reverberating voice and the message of Kate's brother's reading from Romans Chapter 12:I APPEAL to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
I'm not a royalist, but I'm sure others are wiser than me in such constitutional matters.
5 comments:
Holy cow, Robert. What an insight.
Sacrifices generally do take place at an altar when blinded by love of another human, or fear of a deity. And the multitudes, led by the media, clamoured for the sacrifice.
That's what the media is for n'est-ce-pas? Dressing everything up all pretty so it looks desirable and we will participate in the games of the powers that be.
Oh, my ... how cynical am I?
Excellent post Robert!
Surely it is a job like any other, she's marrying into the family business and at least seems to have gone in with her eyes well and truly open, and I'm sure there will be lots of consolations, she won't ever have to do the washing up again:-)
There is a very worthwhile message in the reading though.
much love
martine
"In that last hour of need, we entirely agreed, sacrifice was the code of the road."
Thanks for this post. This has been on my mind--two very young people making a very public commitment to a private relationship with each other. You know where that quote came from. Now I'm very curious about Kate's brother.
Ruth and Bonnie: to be fair to the new Duchess of Cambridge, I do actually think she has a fair amount of insight into her freely chosen situation (after all, she and Prince William were engaged for four years) and she went to the altar with eyes wide open, as Martine says ...
A public commitment, I suppose, is one many of us make in church or registry office, am - though with rather fewer witnesses! At least this couple seems to be marrying out of love and mutual respect, and share the same educational background and sense of humour - which is more than can be said for many royal matches in English history. So the auguries do look good. But who really knows?
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