Making Memories Through History

When it came to last week’s Royal Wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton, I offered to let my daughter go to school late, so she could watch it.

My mother saw the coronation and wedding of Queen Elizabeth, and I got up early in 1981 to watch Charles and Diana marry. My daughter is taking AP European History, and well, this IS European History, and my mom and I thought it would be really cool to have all three of us watch this together.

She was not interested in watching it, even as a history buff. I can’t decide whether this was miscalculation on my part, or whether she was just trying to stick it to me. Either could be true. But while my mom and I were wearing ridiculous hats in her bedroom and tuning in with an estimated two billion others around the world, my daughter was at school as usual. I am trying not to take it personally that she preferred school.

I understand those people who don’t care about the Royal Wedding, or don’t think Americans should care. We not only don’t have royalty, but we fought to escape it. Times are tough, particularly in the tornado-tossed South; we don’t really have anything to do with England; and there’s something a little grating about watching the excesses of out-of-touch rich people, particularly if you’re struggling harder every day to make ends meet.

My defense to these friends has been not only the idea of watching history unfold right before your eyes, or a nationally-stabilizing event for a nation which is one of our country’s most important allies, or getting to share in a moment with 25 percent of the human beings on the globe, or seeing the awesome Tim Gunn, ABC Royal Wedding correspondent.

For our family, it’s something that connects us, generationally, as mothers and daughters. For that reason, I explained to my daughter as I left for my mother’s house, she may regret someday that she didn’t watch this with us. She still chose school.

My middle son didn’t even know a royal wedding was taking place, which isn’t a surprise. My husband mocked me in good fun. Our youngest son,went to school as usual but was full of things to say once he did get to watch it.

I don’t regret that my daughter said no, but something dawned on me. In my efforts to foster the whole multi-generational mother-daughter thing, I sent to school the one child who genuinely was interested in the whole thing, just for being a boy. In retrospect, I feel a little bad about that, though to be honest he would have talked through the whole thing. One of his nicknames is “Filibuster.”

We couldn’t help but giggle a bit during “God Save the Queen,” when they showed the Queen, who was just kind of standing there. You never really think about it, but, she really is the one Briton who can’t sing their national anthem. And if she did, that would be awkward. “God Save…Me?” We were also struck that Bishop Chartres, with 500 years of British literature to choose from, quoted notoriously bawdy Geoffrey Chaucer in his homily!?! Wow.

In the end it was striking to see the difference between royal couples. Charles and Diana barely looked at each other, and Diana was so nervous that she botched Charles’ name, and kept biting her lower lip. William and Catherine spoke volumes with the way they looked at each other, and were the very picture of both joy and poise. Royal scholars are saying they believe William and Catherine will restore the dignity of the royal family, and after seeing this event, I have to agree.

So, my mom and I watched the Royal Wedding together, and it was marvelous, both the event and the memory I will have of sharing it with her. We realize this makes us nerds in some people’s eyes. In fairness, there won’t be a better excuse for having mimosas at six in the morning for at least another 25 years.