For some Hatters, royal wedding a big deal
About 2 a.m. on Saturday, live coverage of the royal wedding — Prince Harry to Meghan Markle — will begin and some Hatters will not only be tuning in to watch but also celebrating with a taste of Britain too.
“I haven’t decided if I am going to get up (early) or (just) not go to bed but I will be watching it live,” said Bill Cocks of Medicine Hat, a former councillor. “I have my little bottle of champagne and I’m going to make some scones and have clotted cream and scone and cup of tea.”
Cocks had hoped to organize a wedding breakfast to celebrate but in the end the time it was taking to arrange was simply too much, he said.
The reason he will forgo sleep in order to watch the wedding is simple.
“I just find it enjoyable, I think it’s wonderful that we have a monarchy, that we have this institution that kind of takes us all through the stages of life,” said Cocks.
The Queen is well into her 90s and many Canadians have followed the whole royal family complete with its own ups and downs.
“The joys and the woes of it all, just as we all do in our own family. I think it’s a great mirror and ... to aspire to for our society,” said Cocks. “I find it enjoyable. I’m delighted to be Canadian and celebrating that.”
Markle is a confident, articulate young woman who has captured the hearts of many people, said Cocks.
“Many aspects of the royal family do that for me,” said Cocks, noting how different each member of the family is, how they complement each other and provide a contrast that is very good. Frances Miller hit the front pages of
the News when the Duke and Duchess made their first official visit to Canada and she was selected to present a posy of flowers to the Duchess on their departure in Calgary.
If Miller happens to be awake around 2 a.m. she said she will tune in to watch, but more importantly says she will be taping the coverage so that she is able to watch it all again and again.
While the wedding is a very special event for the royal couple it is not huge in the grand scheme of things and will not change major international relations between China, Russia and America, said Ian Parkinson of Medicine Hat, who is British, but became a Canadian more than three decades ago.
Parkinson will not be getting up early to watch the wedding but says he will probably sit down with his Canadian wife later in the day to watch.
“As a Canadian she is probably more of a diehard royalist than I am,” said Parkinson.
There has been a British media frenzy in the past few weeks with speculation about the wedding, what the bride will wear and even drawing in her extended family with not always positive input.
“I think anybody that is older than six minutes realizes that the British press needs to be taken with a grain of salt, especially salt and mustard,” said Parkinson.
With Markle’s father not being well enough to attend the wedding people are speculating about who will walk her down the aisle.
“I hope it’s her mother,” said Cocks. “I think that would be very appropriate.”
If she ends up walking down the aisle on her own “that would be a statement in itself,” said Cocks.