Strutting around London: THE WEDDING !

Who would have thought 6 months ago, that two proud left wing, Australian republican’s would get their kids up at 5:15 and head down to The Mall. and,along with bazillions of others and end up with a fantastic view of the Royal wedding Procession, waving Union Jacks, singing ‘God Save the Queen’ and cheering at every sight of a family of, at times, debatable purpose ?

Well, that’s what we did. Last week saw the return to what is more usual April weather and, for a while, Friday had heavy rain and storms forecast. There was no rain and it turned out to be a good combination of cloud, a bit of a breeze and sun later in the day. We expected most of the good spots to have been long taken with news reports of people camping out two and three nights before the wedding day. Thanks to a good suggestion by one of Sally’s staff, we ended up at 6:30am, on the corner of The Mall and Horse Guards Road standing with people who had camped overnight. It was not until 10 am that anything really happened but from there on until 1pm we stood just two metres from the barricade with the kids right on the barrier.

OUR FRIENDLY BOBBY.

LOYAL FLAG WAVING.

We had a good view as first the cars came from the palace to Westminster then the carriages came back. It was great to have the band playing directly opposite and amazing to see the precision that the Palace guards were paraded. In the 30 minutes or so before the return of the carriages various sergeants stamped up and down adjusting soldiers’ uniform and position by a few steps or at times mere centimetres.

Later, we very slowly made our way down The Mall we and ended up standing just behind the Victoria monument in front of Buckingham palace. The crowds were huge at this stage and we were quite unable to move amidst the crush. The kids could see nothing at all while Mark managed a glimpse and a few blurry photos. The sun started to come out and we were glad not only to have scored the great spot we did earlier, but that it was not the fairly warm( 26C ) bright sunny day of the previous Friday.

By the time it was all over we realised we had stood for 8 hours with no toilet breaks ! The kids did really well, especially at the end.

Sitting down that night to watch the highlights was a strange experience, especially the footage from the Abbey which we had all been at just a few days earlier for the ANZAC Day service. Aisha was one of several Australian & New Zealand kids chosen to read a prayer on the High Altar. She was in her guide uniform, William in his scout, and she did a fabulous job – it was all very short, but calmly and clearly read. She stood where the Dean of Westminster stood; went through what was described in the highlights as ‘the most sacred section of the Abbey’ - the shrine of Edward the Confessor where William and Catherine signed the register.