April 29th will be a day of great celebration and happiness for all Canadian Monarchists as Prince William weds Catherine Middleton. Most of us cannot be in London—and will be grateful for the excellent TV coverage enjoyed from the comfort of our own living rooms and easy chairs. Depending on our time zone, we can watch live or choose to DVR the proceedings and enjoy them at the end of our workday.
But William and Kate’s wedding (no bad thing that the bride is near universally so dubbed, in the same way as the inaccurate but affectionate Princess Di
was quickly adopted a generation ago by media and public alike) also offers us the chance to make the pomp and circumstance more meaningful for our fellow Canadians. In other words, we have the opportunity to enjoy the glitz but also explain the substance—and why this date is important for Canada.
To this end, I am asking you to consider any or all of the following projects. Not everyone will feel able to undertake them all—but I hope all of you will at least consider making one project your personal undertaking, a small sign of the reciprocal and personal nature of the monarchy, which the Queen has exemplified so well during her six decades on the throne.
Please let us know about your participation, whether you can host League members (see below: Building Bridges) and as to how your project(s) develop. We will be happy to support your efforts with literature, postcards, and advice as we are able, and to share your own good ideas with your fellow Canadians and monarchists across the country.
Hold an open house for shared viewing of the wedding by your neighbours, League members, and friends. This is a day to fly proudly the Canadian flag outdoors. Whether your living room or den can accommodate five or 25, there are certainly neighbours and monarchists in your area who would enjoy the fellowship of watching the wedding with like-minded friendly folk.
You set the hours, perhaps welcoming guests an hour prior to the Wedding (it will take place at 11am GMT) and invite some friends. If you are a member of the League, let us know how many members you can accommodate: we will invite members in your neighbourhood (without revealing your address) and get your okay before we confirm your generous invitation and give them your contact details. Contact the Dominion Chairman at domsec@sympatico.ca with your invitation parameters.
You may or may not choose to inform local media (or ask the League to do so) which will further assist with the inevitable requests for local colour
interviews on the day.
Depending on your circumstances and budget, you can serve champagne and truffled eggs—or coffee and Danish! Being together, rather than being extravagant, is what counts. A great bridge of unity and fellowship amongst our fellow Canadians and the League’s diverse membership would be achieved if many decided to do this.
In common with branches and contact groups of the League, enterprising individuals might consider hosting a wedding breakfast
(or supper, depending on your time zone) in a Legion hall or similar setting which would be glad of the business, offer wide screen TV for viewing and produce a simple refreshment table for a nominal charge.
Not everyone can host others or watch the Wedding live. In that case, how about a special family dinner with a toast to the Couple and a simple dessert cupcake bearing their initials? Or one could go out for a meal with family and friends, from McDonald’s to the Ritz, again raising a glass of ginger ale or champagne to the day’s events!
A lot of us will have to work the day of the Wedding. Well, everyone gets tired of the company cafeteria, the local fast food joint or their brown bag lunch. Perhaps engage a group of co-workers to celebrate—or tap the social fund, by whatever its name, for a special lunch or a suitably decorated cake at coffee hour? You could always distribute the League’s William and Catherine postcards to your fellow workers. Place bunting around your cubicle? Especially make sure to underline to colleagues who may recently have come to Canada that this is an event of direct significance to their new country. You might have copies of A Crown of Maples to give such members of our national family.
Contact a sympathetic principal or teacher, or the PTA, and suggest that your young person’s class—or the entire school—undertake an age-appropriate royal wedding project. It could easily be four-fold:
sparkle for the Royal Weddingwith donations to a charity, visiting a seniors’ centre);
Especially if you are acquainted with storeowners and managers, who often have a degree of discretion in matters of publicity and promotion, why not suggest that windows be decorated with a royal wedding theme (and offer to help to make sure that it presents the monarchy as a Canadian institution). Perhaps local artists and designers could be invited to create colourful posters or other decorative elements. How about a well publicized Royal Wedding Special Offer
on and around the wedding date—be that a discount at the local bridal shop, an extra scoop of ice cream at the confectioner’s, a free topping on a pizza for anyone who says Happy Royal Wedding Day.
Corny? Maybe! But effective in raising awareness and identifying the Royals with the daily life of Canadians? You bet!
Monarchists’ advocacy helped to force Canada Post to reverse its original decision not to issue a commemorative stamp for the wedding—in fact it will offer two stamps which will become available May 2nd. We are not yet sure of the denomination(s)—but why not plan now to go to your local Canada Post outlet on the day of issue and purchase your anticipated stamp needs for as long a period into the future as you can possibly afford. Nothing would show our friends at Canada Post the strength of loyalty in this country—and to the government that heard your voices and influenced Canada Post to do the right thing—as to have these stamps in great demand, possibly even necessitating a reprint.
Every time you use such a stamp, you remind the recipient that—contrary to what some opinion-makers are sure to express—this is not a British
event of significance only to those living in England, nor simply a romantic tale of the sort in which the readers of Hello Canada and People magazine delight—but the wedding of a member of the Canadian Royal Family, our future King and our Queen, one of whose children, if all goes well, will also be a King or Queen of Canada.
No one wants to create political agendas in one’s church, temple, or mosque—but if you are a person of faith, you might ask your priest, minister, rabbi or imam to say appropriate prayers for William and Catherine at the principal service nearest to the Wedding, and to invite the congregation to sing the Royal and National Anthems at the offertory or some other appropriate place in your worship tradition. Sometimes, we regret, a pastor will reply, Oh no, this is political
. This is a good opportunity to gently but firmly correct such a mistaken assertion. Such an observance does not constitute support for the Monarchy
in the sense that the League advocates, but rather, a recognition that Canada is, at present, a constitutional monarchy, and that members of the Canadian Royal Family are also part of our extended national family; therefore those who have religious convictions appropriately pray for them.