Photo Alexander J Harris
With less than 24 hours until the event of the year, everyone here in England seems to be getting more excited by the minute! (Okay, there are a few staunch anti-monarchists who aren’t, but I never pay any attention to them anyway.)
Yesterday morning Catherine Middleton left her family home in Bucklebury, just a few miles away from where I live in Berkshire, for the last time as a single woman and a commoner. She will be staying at the beautiful Goring Hotel in Mayfair tonight with her family, and has been spotted leaving Westminster Abbey after a final rehearsal today. I imagine that is the last we will see of her until tomorrow morning. I so admire how calm and composed she appears to be. By the time I was only a few hours from my wedding I had a pretty serious case of wedding nerves – I even had to apologise to the Best Man for snapping at him. But there is none of that with Miss Middleton, who appears absolutely unflappable.
There is a very special atmosphere here in Berkshire, with everyone feeling somehow connected – even those of us who have only lived in Berkshire for a short time. But Catherine Middleton’s down to earth manner and her clear affection for the place she grew up, makes even those of us who are recently transplanted feel a real part of things.
I am following the media coverage avidly and will of course be doing so from early tomorrow as well. I am Tweeting and linking to some of the interesting things I find on The 21st Century Housewife Facebook page, but your absolute best source of information is, of course, The Official Royal Wedding site, administered by Clarence House. Be sure todownload a copy of the beautiful wedding programme, and the Order of Service. It’s absolute free and available either as a PDF download or on the Apple iBooks Store. I downloaded mine from iBooks and it’s lovely leafing through it on my iPad. There is a gorgeous new photograph of the Royal couple by Mario Testino in it as well.
The wedding service looks wonderful, and all the music is so beautiful. I am thrilled the Royal Couple have chosen Jerusalem as a hymn for the service. My husband and I chose Jerusalem for the last hymn at our wedding too. For us it spoke of patriotism and love of country, and I am sure it does for the Royal Couple as well.
I highly recommend following the coverage on The Royal Wedding Live Stream on the Royal Channel Live Stream. It will be accompanied by a multi-media blog put together by St James’ Palace. In terms of actual information, this will be your most accurate option.
No matter where you live you can feel a part of things. You can send a gift to the Royal Couple in the form of a donation to their favourite charities, you can upload a video message for them, you can even join in on Facebook. The Twitter hashtags Clarence House are using for the Royal Wedding are #royalwedding and #rw2011.
So grab a nice cup of tea or a glass of champagne to join us as we celebrate the Royal Wedding!
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