1. You are what you wear – if you’re a woman
If I hear one more fashion editor’s orgasmic praise of the stupidly expensive creation of some ‘it’ designer of the moment, or see another picture of a ridiculous headpiece that does nothing but hinder its owner from entering a building with normal doors (as if that would ever happen on the day of a royal wedding), I think I might throw up. Seriously. The stupidity of one commentator’s outbursts fades in comparison to another’s, and the scrutiny of the bodies and dress senses of the women who were invited to today’s big event seemed endless. Was anyone betting like crazy on what colour suit Prince Charles would wear or what stylist would get the honour of doing Harry’s hair? Did anyone really care that Nick Clegg looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks?
2. A veil is a veil is a veil
As the burqa ban in France is dubbed “a victory for tolerance” on the basis that covering one’s face is an act against liberal values and openness regardless of its motivation, and similar laws are considered in other European countries on grounds of equality and women’s rights, Kate covers her face with a silk ivory-tulle veil as her father walks her up the aisle. Not as an act against openness or because she needs it to protect her, nor because her future husband refuses to share her beauty with the world, but maybe to invoke a sense of purity and innocence, or perhaps simply because of tradition. But as she is handed over to the prince and her veil is lifted, rightly or wrongly, the fact that a veil is a veil becomes painfully clear; us westerners suddenly seem hypocritical at best, and I can’t help but wonder: what’s behind the veil, when does it stop being beautiful and start being controlling, and who am I to decide what another woman can or can’t wear?
3. The monarchy, along with the wider aristocracy and the church, is patriarchal through and through
The royal wedding was like a satire of something from the early 1900s, where women are good for nothing but pleasing the eye. While no one will be surprised that The Very Reverend and his buddies were all male, I was surprised and disappointed – perhaps naively so – by the fact that not one single woman bar Kate’s sister, who mainly got to run around like a servant, got to participate in the ceremony in an active way. The interiors were thought out by a male designer, the music was provided by a boys’ choir, and the wedding song was composed by a man. And as much as I hate to sully the fairytale tradition of a father walking his daughter down the aisle to hand her over to the new man in her life, the restrictive, almost aggressive way in which this was done as Kath’s father lifted her hand and put it into the priest’s, whereby he grabbed it and lifted it across to put it firmly in Will’s, made me wonder why she bothered at all to remove the line where she would vow to obey her husband forever.
4. Britain’s class system is as strong and present as ever
That a well-educated woman who went to a private boarding school and whose parents are successful business owners is repeatedly referred to as a “commoner” is just one of many signs of how protective the aristocracy is of its status, but as millions of Britons of different backgrounds clearly think that it’s perfectly normal to watch these two random people get married, spending billions of tax payers’ pounds, I’m forced to admit that it’s not just the well-off themselves who seem keen to preserve status quo.
Some people have eagerly suggested that Kate, the commoner that she is, will change the image of the royal family forever. I wouldn’t hold my breath. As Guardian writer Amanda Marcotte was quoted to have said, “I’m glad that the royal family has caught up to the 1920s. I look forward to an exciting new future when the women start wearing pants and the men learn how to hold infants.”
