My wedding vow to Wills and Kate
IT’S THE same. It’s different. It’s enchanting. The setting may be a little grander, the scenery more majestic, the outfits slightly more formal and the designers not exactly budget, but the essence is identical to that seen in the millions of videos shot by families all over this green and pleasant land.
I’m talking of course about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s home movie featuring star turns by Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and the family’s late lamented dog Lupo. We see the family clambering up a hill, chasing their children around the garden, windblown on the beach, holding hands, smiling broadly and sitting with arms draped around one another’s shoulders.
Obviously we can’t all employ professional directorWillWarr to capture our wonky birthday cakes and Monopoly marathons.
It’s true we don’t have access to hairdressers and stylists to ensure that every detail, including mum and daughter’s matching boots, is picture perfect. Most of us aren’t allowed to build bonfires in our backyards so our infants don’t have the chance to roast marshmallows on sticks.
YES, the short video released to mark Kate and William’s 10th anniversary is a polished product with best profiles firmly forward. Yet it feels genuine, delightfully unpretentious and is punctuated with wonderfully ebullient grins and loving looks that not even Oscar-winning thespians would be capable of simulating.
We all remember what we were doing on their wedding day. I was reporting for my radio show, my fascinator at a jaunty angle, balanced precariously on the roof of a traditional double-decker London bus plonked in the middle of Hyde Park.
Note: I don’t mean on the top deck. I had to climb a ladder to ascend to the vantage point. Spread on the grass were picnickers adorned in glittering nuptial finery.The public had been invited to dress as wedding guests and obliged with vibrant enthusiasm.
As Kate emerged, ethereally exquisite in her bridal gown, my colleague Jason Rosam and I, employed to describe the elegant lace creation to millions of listeners, burst simultaneously into a symphony of sobbing. Neither capable of uttering a word. If Wills and Kate renew their vows in 2031 to mark 20 years of wedded bliss, and the Almighty spares us, we both vow to do a much more professional job.