We were in the pub the other night after a run. A football match was playing on the big screen at the other end of the room and I caught a glimpse of The Happy Couple in between adverts and overheard someone saying they had announced their engagement, so as usual I caught up with World News about a week late (actually, that's pretty good for me). Real Delia was saying how Scroogey she is about all the hoopla around the Royal Wedding, but I'm kind of excited about it. In spite of my commenting to Bill that it was a good thing Wills had finally got on with it, cause he was losing his looks; he needs to get married whilst he still has hair. Mind, I think Bill looks just fine without his, but I hate pictures of him during that stage when he was still trying to make do with what little was left; he's definitely improved with age. Given what a heart-throb William was in his late teens, I suspect his best days are behind him, but never mind.
I think Kate is a lovely young woman with great taste in clothes and I'm looking forward to the fashion parade. Having watched this interview that Delia linked I decided I liked William better for his ease with the media and for insisting that Kate will make her own future rather than follow in any one's footsteps. Being generally nosy about her, I checked out what the internet had to say, in particular her Wikipedia entry. The best part, I thought, was the link to her supposed genealogy.
Not only were her great-great-grandparents coal miners (just like mine!), but some of the place names on her family tree include Newcastle-upon-Tyne, South Shields, North Shields, Tynemouth, Byker...she's practically a Geordie lass (OK, a slight exaggeration). She's vaguely related to Harriett Martineau, about whom I've written before. Even stranger, going back to her 14x great grandparents, she and William have a common ancestor, so they are actually 15th cousins. Well, it's not exactly close enough to worry about is it? Anyhow, there is plenty of precedent.
5 comments:
Hi Shelley,
I'm sooooo excited about the royal wedding to!!!! I have the latest copy of People magazine and it has a lovey write up about the couple!
Kate has a warm smile and is so stylish!!!! I bet they'll make some beautiful babies!!!! CHEERS! Michele
For those of who can trace our roots far enough, yes, probably all British folk are related. I don't mind being cousins with Delia Smith but I'm not sure about Boris Johnson.
I'm crossing my fingers for W+K that they've had long enough to think this through and have a solid enough relationship to weather what's bound to be a bumpy ride. Poor woman: she must really love him.
Over here it is reported that young William has gone to his grandmother, the Queen, for motherly advise since the death of his own mother. Must say the Queen has a pretty good track record of a lasting marriage.
As for unusual relations, in tracing my family I have discovered we have common ancestors with former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. As these are two of my favorite presidents I think that is kind of neat. Of course both the Stone and Bush famalies appear to have originated in England.
Michele - I can well imagine People mag would do the couple proud. I wonder sometimes if they feel like raw meat for sharks, the media scarf up their lives so greedily (to sell to nosy people like me, except I try not to buy magazines very often).
English - I do think Kate's chosen a hard road. He seems to have all the power in that relationship, but one never knows from the outside what really goes on, right? I don't mind Boris too much, though I wish he'd do something with his hair.
Rick - Over here the Queen doesn't rate much as a mother, but perhaps - as with many - she's a better granny than she was a mom. I can't imagine your acknowledging being related to a Democrat, even if one had the nerve to pop up in your family tree :-).
Shelly, actually my father is still registered as a Democrat even though he is probably more conservative than I am. (All his sons have re-registered as Republicans. I would register as a Libertarian if Oklahoma recognized that party.)
Years ago my folks would not even think of voting Republican. In 1960 my mother refused to vote since she could not vote for a Republican (Nixon) nor a Catholic (Kennedy). Times change. Hubert Humphrey, in 1968, was probably the last Democrat my dad voted for.
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