Photo credit: 80s Actual
For whatever reason, I seem to be on a royal streak (flush?) right now. Here’s a brief memory of events from 32 years ago. Britain in the late 70s and early 80s was pretty conflicted (think strikes and riots and punk rock, not just tea and crumpets) – and what better to point this out than a massively expensive wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral?
July 29, 1981
The morning of the wedding, the TV
room was abuzz with royalists. Eileen
on the settee, a cockney queen. The rest
of us stayed in the kitchen drinking tea,
making snide comments about the Prince’s
large ears and the dangers of inbreeding.
Later, I listened from my bedroom as
the bride got the groom’s name wrong. It was an
omen, although we didn’t know it then,
her unending white dress flowing down and
out the door like a slick of North Sea oil,
just one more ’80s excess to regret.
Penguin Poems 
smiles. i remember my mom being awake early in the morning to watch the wedding…ouch, def omens when you get names wrong too…ha…like the close as well…and not sure we have learned much since…
Ah, this was wonderful esp the way you wrapped it up as emblematic of another time. Bravo!
So vivid, and I love the foreboding mixture of images in the last stanza!
Ah yes, vast expense poured out on the needless by the needy … nothing’s really changed, has it?
I have a vague memory of watching this with family…thanks for filling in the blanks, and for making it waaay more interesting than anything I ever experienced, remembered or not. ~peace, Jason
Oh well done!
The royal family and all its pomposity holds no interest for me. Never watched any of the weddings and couldn’t care less…
Anna :o]
Very nice look back into a past moment, I enjoyed reading this 🙂
Meanwhile, across the pond, I could not understand why the tv was on ALL day but it was just some boring wedding!
I’m from the States, and I wonder why people here don’t realize we have families of Royals, too. All the equivalents with the exception of a King/Queen who is also head of an officlal church (yeah, that’s why we came… not just because we wanted to kill off an entire indigenous people). The Royals of America, the Bushes, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, the WalMart Walton kids, etc., are all inbred, all have inherited wealth (granted, not as many generations, but they sure as hell have it sewn up now), and none of them are going to give an inch as long as they have funds.
I was appalled by the big do of Charles and Diana… and just as appalled, as people are living on the streets, of the Kardashian excess of William and Kate’s wedding. I mean, give me a break. They’ll live in a smaller mansion, but what the heck? I hope Will is the one to dismantle the monarchy, or at least give the public access to places like Balmoral, etc.
Your poem really got me going! Way to be provocative, Andrew! Brill. Amy