The. Royal. Wedding.

[Bugbear]

I've been listening to the ABC radio coverage. They're psychoanalyzing the wedding dress right now...

[Cynthia]

I've been listening to the ABC radio coverage. They're psychoanalyzing the wedding dress right now...

The gown is beautiful. Simple, but elegant! I love it.

[Bugbear]

I guess he's in his uniform.

They were trying to describe the coats of arms, something about three acorns and a "V" shape, but I didn't quite understand.

[Pleater]

Was that Kingussie pleating on THE gown!?

Camilla wore pleats - I think Kingussie style too.

So I did have to take a peek - the return to Buck House with all the horses and escorts. Wonderful.

No one with a double X chromosome can entirely deny all interest in a wedding of any sort, even with asparagus to plant.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Tim Little]

Duplicate post

[Tim Little]

They were trying to describe the coats of arms, something about three acorns and a "V" shape, but I didn't quite understand.

Sounds like they may have been talking about Catherine's arms:

The Middleton family wanted to have acorns on it, particularly as a reference to fact that the part of Berkshire in which they brought their children up, there are a lot of oak trees.

...

There's also a chevron — which is like an upside down V — to represent the mountain.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135776...st-of-eminence

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

These are superb arms, brilliantly painted.

[Lime]

A word of caution: I wouldn't describe it as being an "Irish title" - apparently some people have been arguing over this for a couple of years now. Carrickfergus, although geographically in Ireland, is in the United Kingdom.

[Mike_Oettle]

For those interested in flags, there was a Georgian flag being waved quite close to Buck House (as the royals refer to Buckingham Palace). It was on the BBC footage, but I didn’t see it at all on the E! channel. (Georgia’s flag is a red cross on white, like the English flag, but has four additional small red crosses, one in each quarter.)
I also spotted one representing Gibraltar, at least one Australian flag, and (also near the palace) a large South African flag. I spotted thousands of Union Jacks (many with the additional inscription Will and Kate), a lot of silly hats with badly worked Union Jacks on them, a great many St George cross flags, a few St Andrew’s crosses (including one that had been sewn onto the first quarter of a Union Jack), and lots of Welsh flags (they could have been waved by folk from Cymru, or they might simply have represented William as a prince of Wales [as opposed to the Prince of Wales, who is his father], or as a resident of Wales [RAF Valley, in Anglesey].)
Kilts were much less in evidence. I believe I saw two among the guests at the Abbey church, and none in the crowds.
Both the York girls, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, seated with their father, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, were badly dressed and had hideous hats on. Beatrice (when she was a girl her mother apparently called her Beetroot) was the one sitting behind the Queen.
It is a royal tradition dating back to the Middle Ages that royal princes are named dukes on their wedding day.
The Prince of Wales does not usually fall into this tradition, because as soon as his parent (in the case of Charles, his mother) becomes the sovereign, the heir apparent becomes Duke of Cornwall.
But you will recall that Andrew became Duke of York on his wedding day. Prince Edward was unusually made an earl but not a duke, but this is apparently because he will be the next Duke of Edinburgh.
Tony Armstrong-Jones was made Earl of Snowdon on the morning of his wedding to Princess Margaret, but Angus Ogilvy chose not to take a title when he married Princess Alexandra, and was only made a knight many years later.
A further tradition regarding titles is that a royal duke is almost invariably also given an earldom and a barony, and that they are distributed around the UK.
William’s earldom is in Scotland, and his barony in Northern Ireland.
Prince Philip was only made a prince of the realm some years after his marriage (having renounced his Greek and Danish titles prior to his engagement to Princess Elizabeth), but on his wedding day became Duke of Edinburgh (Scotland), Earl of Merioneth (Wales) and Baron Greenwich (England).
I watched the BBC news feed live during the day, but when my wife watched the re-run of the E! footage in the evening I watched that with her. The US member of the commentary team was Giuliana Rancic (of Giuliana and Bill), who did not impress me much. The whole E! team was constantly gossiping and giggling, and Giuliana seemed to do a great deal of both. But what struck me particularly was her pronunciation of Buckingham Palace – like so many English placenames, this one also is clipped back, to Bucking’m.
Perhaps it’s just as well she did not read out the Queen’s marital titles as Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth and Baroness Greenwich – I am sure she would have said Green-wich, rather than the correct Gren-ich.
Regards,
Mike

[EagleJCS]

Ted, Prince William was wearing the uniform of a mounted officer of the Irish Guards, since he has been appointed the honorary Colonel of the regiment.

According to the People website: "The mounted officer's uniform features a scarlet jacket, a gold and crimson sash, gold sword slings (without an actual sword inside) and a forage cap. He will also wear the Garter Sash with the Wings of the Royal Air Force, the Garter Star and the Golden Jubilee Medal."

The tunic/jacket has buttons worn in two rows of four, reflecting the regiment's position as the fourth most senior Guards regiment, and the collar is adorned with a shamrock on either side. The shamrocks on the collar have a crown on each leaf, which may have looked like acorns.

The forage cap is the typical officer's cap seen in many militaries: a short black brim, red band, and a larger, blue-black, round top.

The 'Garter Sash' is the sash of the Order of the Garter, in blue satin (it looked to be true blue, not royal blue). It crossed his chest from left shoulder to right hip, under the epaulette on his left shoulder. His wings were a badge/patch affixed to the Garter Sash at his left shoulder. The Golden Jubilee medal is a large round medal suspended from a navy ribbon with two narrow yellow-gold vertical stripes.