PARTY TIME
Royal wedding fans gearing up to party
Royal wedding fans plan to enjoy Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s big day
In pyjamas and old wedding gowns, with high tea or a bit of the early morning bubbly, royal watchers in the U.S. and around the globe are fascinator ready to watch the nuptials of Prince Harry and his unprecedented fiancee: Meghan Markle.
He’s the spare to the heir, soon to be booted to sixth in line for the throne, but Harry is forever the people’s prince to many inside and outside the Commonwealth who once wondered whether the bad boy of Windsor would ever tie the knot.
She, of TV “Suits” fame, has whipped up some big fan buzz, including those thrilled by her mixed race heritage.
Their “woke” wedding (the Spice Girls are expected) is May 19 at midday, Windsor Castle time, or about 7 a.m. in the Eastern U.S. Viewing party plans are in the works, as are pricey hotel packages and bar meet ups. The frenzied have their own Facebook groups and some have cajoled less-enthused spouses to jet across the pond to watch the pomp in person from a spot on the carriage route.
Julie Brillhart, a hardcore royal enthusiast in Hurricane, West Virginia (population, 7,000, maybe), said she fired up her Harry and Meghan Facebook page to connect fans with parties back in November, “the minute I woke up in the morning and found out Meghan and Harry were engaged.” She and her twin sister now have nearly 5,000 members.
“We are in love with Meghan Markle,” said Brillhart, a former career logistics specialist in the Army. “For every little black girl who has ever wanted her very own princess who is a well-known, modern princess, they now have one. Isn’t that wonderful? She will always be our American princess.”
The group’s members share wedding updates and plans for gatherings, and they live in 91 countries on six of the seven continents.
“We’re actively looking for contacts in Antarctica,” Brillhart said. “They had their own Women’s March so we thought wouldn’t it be great for them to have their own little get-together for the wedding. They need something to break the monotony.”
Stateside, a recent AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows 19 per cent of Americans are very or extremely likely to watch the marital hoopla. Another 20 per cent said they’re somewhat likely to tune in and another 61 per cent said they were not very likely or not at all likely to watch.
In Indianapolis, legal assistant Kelly Bentley, is on board. She’s married to a Brit. From North Yorkshire, to be exact. She’ll be the one in a crown as they sit at the bar of the Aristocrat Pub & Restaurant, sipping something yummy as the wedding unfolds.
“He doesn’t get as excited as I do,” she said.