Wedding bells

Royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle an embodiment of Diana’s free spirit

As far as royal weddings go, for long they’ve fed our fairytale beliefs of the lavishness of the “ever after” till the dreamiest of them all, that of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, crumbled into a heap of realities. Suddenly a royal wedding wasn’t an escapist fancy to bet on. Over time, interest in British royal weddings waned, particularly after persistent criticism about wilful expenditure of public money and debate about the size of the royal purse. If Diana’s death did anything, it was only to lionise her as a human, a people’s princess compared to the stiff-lipped House of Tudors. And it was this populist aura and her brand ambassadorship that Britain could not and still cannot ignore, using it to sell the royals as part of an exportable culture, attracting tourists, brands and the subsidiary economy of memorabilia and lifestyle markers, in short a marketable charmed life. The Western media, too, which at other times is deeply critical of imperialist legacies, completely becomes subservient and converts to “subjects” of a royal event, ostensibly to encash the eyeballs they have craftily lured in the first place. The post-Diana vacuum was filled somewhat by the marriage of Prince William and Kate, ushering in a fresh whiff of modernity, rebranding the royals, following a conservative and stable family line while prominently carrying forth the Diana legacy in parts. But it was fifth in line Prince Harry, who proved to be somewhat of an embarrassment with his naughtiness and escapades. Yet it is he who embodies Diana’s free spirit and is now set to humanise and contemporise the Tudor legacy with his marriage to American actress Meghan Markle, a mixed race import, Catholic and divorcee, very unlike both Diana and Kate. Meghan and Harry are not the dream-catchers that actress Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco were, they are more sedate and acceptable. But with them the British royals are experiencing the first whiff of multi-culturalism and democracy and are perhaps more politically correct in optics. And though Harry and Meghan have claimed ownership of the ceremonies and codes that will dictate their public behaviour from now on, the working woman has already given up her acting career and fashion line. But the royals have come around too. Prince Charles stepped into the shoes of Meghan’s father who could not attend, and handed her over to son Harry, proclaiming to the world that a father-in-law could be as good as a father. The royal house also dropped the word “obey” from the vows that Meghan made to Harry, had a gospel choir and a motley mix of celebrities, our own Priyanka Chopra making her way to the select entourage. Meanwhile, Harry made sure that his new wife sported his mother’s jewels, a tribute to her unassailable appeal as the princess who conformed and rebelled in parts and one who is still betted upon by global marketers as keeping Buckhimgham Palace relevant ceremonially.