Carlo Calma, Editor-in-Chief
It continues to amaze me how much attention some people invest in regarding Prince William and Kate Middleton’s upcoming wedding, which is set to occur April 29.
It seems like every time I check out at the grocery counter, I see their faces plastered on “US Weekly,” “People Magazine” or on one of those trashy gossip magazines, all of them spilling details about their royal nuptial.
For example, “People Magazine” has reported that audio from Prince William and Middleton’s wedding ceremony will be available for download on iTunes within hours after its ending.
They also reported that, “Individual tracks from the service, including the vows, will also be available as singles.”
How convenient. For the next time I’m jogging on the treadmill, or driving around running errands, I can be reminded of how un-royal my life is every time it plays on my iPod.
Now, I’ll admit that I’ve occasionally been drawn into the fanfare and the fawning that some people give the British royal family, but the attention from some people, which almost borders into what can be considered an obsession, scares me just a little.
Why do we care so much about these people that we hardly even know? Granted, this rhetorical question can be applied to just about any celebrity obsession that people may have, but at least those particular obsessions come and go.
I guess it could be argued that the reason why people become so enthralled by royal families is that we’ve grown up with the basic concept since we were little.
Fairytales and Disney films feed us with the idea of princesses and knights in shining armor, and these families bring those fairytales to life.
I think Harry Mount from “The Telegraph” said it best in his column: “Because of this constant […] feed of royal fact and legend, we all end up in this strange position of knowing them, without on the whole ever actually meeting them.”
Perhaps, for some, viewing the British royal family in this regard helps them vicariously live out their childhood dreams of fairytales, kings and queens, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
And to make one thing clear: I have nothing against the British royal family. What I mean, and what I’m really trying to argue, is that I feel like we’ve become so unhealthily attached to this idea that they live a fairytale life that we imagine them to live.
Why should we care about every minuscule detail about their wedding?
When I read on “People’s” website that a slice of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s wedding cake from 1937 sold for $29,000 at a Sotheby’s auction, and that they project that a slice from Prince William and Middleton’s cake may be worth even more than that years from now, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
Who would even pay that much for an old slice of cake? If it’s not edible, I sure won’t hash out close to thirty grand just so I can have it sitting in my freezer.
I just feel like we and the mass media have trivialized a part of their lives, and have completely disregarded other details and efforts that their family partakes in.
According to the royal couple’s wedding website, they have set up “The Prince William & Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund,” to not only celebrate their wedding, but as a way for people to give a meaningful gift to charities that the couple values, in lieu of actually giving them actual wedding gifts.
Where was that reported in any of these magazines or news shows?
So once the royal couple finally takes their walk down the aisle in Westminster Abby, I’m hoping that media attention on the couple begins to recede…that is, until they announce the news that they’re expecting their first child.
Carlo Calma
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