New fizz in the old family firm
IN THE sight of God and before a congregation of hundreds of millions of television viewers, this man and this woman were joined together in holy matrimony. She a wench fit to grace a Tudor revel, with eyes open yet beguiling and hair of beaten copper. He a sailor Prince with a ready grin, who came home from the wars to greet his mother, the Queen, with a rose in his teeth. Of such stuff are Viennese operettas — yes, and soap operas — made. But this was for real. At the beating heart of the royal pageant were two young people very much in love. At the core of encrusted ritual in the Abbey were those simple, binding and daunting vows. Theirs has been a thoroughly modern romance. Before they met, they had both been a-roving. Yesterday, they pledged to rove no more. In that sense Andrew may be said to be ‘settling down’. But we would guess, hitched to the effervescent Sarah, married life is likely to be as staid as a rollercoaster. She may have promised to ‘obey’, but not to batten down the hatches on her boisterous nature.
Even the finest vintage champagne can do with more bubbles. Our Royal Family will surely have the good sense to savour, not smother, Sarah’s sparkle. It was a moving and magnificent gesture of Her Majesty to mark the day by giving her second son the Dukedom of York, thus also transforming, as in some fairytale, the people’s Fergie into Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of York. With this great honour, no doubt, must in time go an increasing share of those public engagements which make up the main workload of what Prince Philip calls the ‘family firm’. In our view, though, it would be a mistake if this were done to the detriment of Prince Andrew’s career in the Navy. The uniforms of the fighting Services gave colour and precision to yesterday, as they always do to very special royal occasions. It is only fitting that this should be so, for the allegiance which binds all serving men and women to their sovereign has over the centuries been one of the surging and sustaining themes in our island story.
As a full-time serving officer, Andrew has a real and self-fulfilling royal role in which he has already had the chance to show his mettle. The whole country respects and approves. Or as Sarah herself put it on TV in that inimitable way of hers: ‘I’m a bit proud of my boy.’ We are delighted for her and for him. It was a wonderful day for them and for the Queen and for her cheering subjects (‘constitutional crisis’? What crisis!) On behalf of ourselves and our readers we wish Andrew and Sarah every happiness for their future . . . not only as the new Duke and Duchess of York, but as dashing and just-spliced naval lieutenant and his truly scrumptious lady.