Billy and Kate get hitched

Pic borrowed from The Telegraph

So William of Windsor and Catherine of Middleton tied the knot yesterday huh? I am totally out of the loop in this matter. Didn't catch it on the telly nor read about it in the online news pages... until a few minutes ago.

Anyway, the just concluded royal wedding in London reminded of the time when William's parents got married in July of 1981... really doesn't feel like that long a time ago. I was into my second year of life in the UK as a student. Charles was getting married to Diana although most people know his heart was somewhere else. Diana was the darling of the press and all the other loyal British subjects. It was the wedding of the century... I did not watch yesterday's event so I can't comment if the son's wedding is as grand as his parents.

Princess Diana performed her role splendidly during her initial years of being the next possible queen of England. She did a lot of charity work and handled publicity quite well. When news got out that she was pregnant, the whole nation was excited. As she neared the time of giving birth and scan results indicate a boy, bookmakers were taking bets on what the name of the new prince would be. `Henry', `Richard' and `William' quickly became the leading favourites, being names of past English kings. Just as an aside, the bookies in UK are willing to accept your wager on almost anything, not just the normal sports events. They even have a respectable name for the bookies taking bets on horse-racing... turf accountants, they are called. No doubt these guys make more money than the chartered accountants who are hired to prepare company accounts.

Ok, back to the first son of Diana... I remember very well on how I got to know which name was chosen. I was walking back from the supermarket and saw it written on the evening newspaper billboard. A simple blurb saying, `Prince Billy!'

And now, 28 years has passed us by. Diana has left us for good quite some time back. Kate Middleton, a common English lass, has married her prince charming.... probably a fairy tale dream she never realised would ever come true. Hopefully, the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge reach the part of `... and they lived happily ever after', perhaps erasing the sad memories of what happened to the Prince and Princess of Wales.