Jesus forgive my atheistic soul, but the Book of Common Prayer is so beautiful. Don't suppose most people watching have ever seen or heard a King James Version church service. That's probably why nobody goes.

I'm not generally a royalist or even a great patriot, but I'm with you, Dave.

Oh, and 'er Duchessishness: you bloody would.

from my retirement whip round and bought this

Outstanding bass, excellent mid, more than adequate high range, maybe not the best looking device but I'm not going to be staring at it. All this happened because Glasgow was quiet and I got the closest spot to the Apple Store possible. 43 mins in and out.

ta Royal types, can you do it again in August when I go to buy a subwoofer?

but have to admit to seeing about an hour from half an hour before arrival at the Abbey, the ceremony and them leaving. It was exceptionally moving and I felt very proud to be British. Not an emotion I expected to be fair.
Slight disagreement though Dave, I thought the trees inside the Abbey looked fantastic.

but it's got bugger all to do with the wedding and everything to do with the poor saps who got arrested yesterday who were planning to continue our fine tradition of protest against inherited privilege

Instead I watched the World Snooker Championship and two great semi finals and listened to some great music from 2011 especially The Dutch Uncles album Cadenza which gets better with every listen and does make me feel proud to be British

that I was damn lucky to have been born in this country, in this century, with all the weight of history to stand upon and marvel at.

You could hear a pin drop in the village pub as the service unfolded, and we all watched the big plasma TV, balanced on a small table on top of another table, swaying gently in front of the fireplace. A cheer went up as they left the Abbey, then everyone piled into the back room to grab their ploughman's lunch, before the balcony moment, and another round of cheers.

Once the Royal party had retreated inside Buck House for their fizz and canapes, we all trooped out into the car park for a round of team games (pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, hoopla, wellie wanging and so on) while the North Somerset Accordion Group launched into a medley of their favourite choons back in the saloon bar for the less mobile members of the gathered throng.

There's a hog roast and a disco this evening, with more lunacy to come. I'm very glad it's Saturday in the morning.

but it's got bugger all to do with the wedding and everything to do with the poor saps who got arrested yesterday who were planning to continue our fine tradition of protest against inherited privilege

I was popping in and out while it was on and was impressed with the BBC coverage. Simon Schama as part of their team helped, with facts and analysis that didn't dip too much into superlative sentiment.

Like almost all here too, I thought it rather comforting to see so many people getting so enthusiastic about something with no apparent rancour or cynicism.

Quite a spectacle very well broadcast. For as long as it held my attention anyway.

Travelled back from Sheffield to Cambridge - broken by a pleasant stroll round Stamford - and you have to say (the odd pub aside) nobody is celebrating...no sign of a street party, shindig, right royal knees-up or naffink...having said that I was half expecting a "Stuff the royal wedding" gathering in Sheffield but no - shame really as I remember "Stuff the jubilee" in Weston Park reasonably fondly. Caught some of it on the TV but just thought "posh people"...

going to watch, but did, and very enjoyable it was. Sorry to all the yah-boo views, but it was a spectacularly well-organised display of pomp and circumstance, and I bet the world loved it. As to possible protests being squashed, I'm all for that. Wrong occasion for the smash-and-burn brigade to be allowed out. They can wait until the next G8/G20 summit. Oh, and Pippa Middleton has a fabulous arse.

This morning he looked remarkably like Ricky Gervais.....

But I saw the pictures and that Aston Martin was spectacular. As was the bride's sister's arse in that tight dress.

Don't know about the wedding but his dress sense/hairstyle etc. compared to William (and even the Prime Minister!) at the World Cup bid was, in comparison, dire.
Truly dire.
Can you see his good looks past that?

My observation on the big day?
Everyone on the tube and in Richmond seemed really happy.
We should do it every Friday.

Turned the TV on at 8am, and found myself fascinated by the whole thing. Dipped in and out during the morning, then watched seriously from 10.30ish onwards.

Started blubbing as soon as I saw Kate being driven to the service - 1) she looked staggeringly beautiful 2) I cry at anything even slightly happy.

Enjoyed telling my little daughter throughout "This is just like Mummy and Daddy's wedding, except we had more people at ours, and ours was a bit grander".

(My other current delight is to tell her that the windows in the car are voice activated. Then I can sit, chortling to myself, and discreetly operating the buttons as she delightedly commands the windows to "Open! Close a bit, that's too far")

Only mild bummer of the day was going for a walk round the neighbourhood, and coming across a street party. They were having such a great time, I was rather sorry I didn't get off my bum and organise one for our road.

I was able to watch the event AND twitter about it at the same time. If anyone wants a good laugh, read Danny Baker's hilarious take on the event on Twitter @prodnose.

Examples...

Shuffling toward Abbey. Why they require us to be here TWO HOURS before kick off is beyond me. Just saw the Akond Of Swat.

Jan Molby shooting across to hot dog kiosk over Square. Do I want anything? Is there time? Just saw Marquessa Of Hale

Nobody seems to know what to do now, we're just milling about outside Abbey. Think Paul Daniels has his car. Might get lift to reception.

Edit: whoops. Did not see the earlier blog post on Danny. Nevermind.

Am I not correct in thinking that if my wife and I drove around in our car without our seat belts on AND in front of several hundred police men and women we would be stopped and probably fined? How then can can Wills and Kate get away with it?!?!?!

and I am proud to say I haven't seen a single second of it.

I have been in Camden buying Frank Zappa and blues records, eating like a lord and drinking like a lord's aunt.
I will not be switching on a TV for about a year or when I know all of the reruns have finished and it's finally dropped off the news, whichever comes first.

Now, can Britain move on? AV next, hurrah, I'm organising a street party for that.

In our house there have generally been two schools of thought regarding the royal wedding. The girls have fed into the romance of it all and are fascinated by princesses and all that tosh, whilst I have been largely of the view that as I wasn't invited it was a terrible waste of money. Why then, has it been me and the boy that have spent the morning glued to the TV while the girls have been otherwise entertained?

Hmm, Pippa!

Pippa Middleton's live will change after today even more than here sisters. The cameras will all be on her now. She's Margaret to Kate's Elizabeth.

1) Enjoyed the trees in the Abbey and the high camera shots
2) Loved that the important people returned to the Palace by carriage whilst the unimportant people came in a fleet of executive mini-coaches
3) Pippa Middleton was really fit and slim & made her sister look quite 'normal-sized' for once
4) I felt sorry for that presenter squashed into the Lancaster bomber who we couldn't hear at all. BBC don't do it - it's not needed!
5) Thought Kate's dress was fantastic and William looked pretty dapper too
6) Every time William saluted - Kate looked down. Perfectly choreographed.
7) Intriqued by the way the Police allowed the crowd to gradually come down the Mall to form up in front of the Palace. Kettling in reverse.

And finally the Queen's carriage which bucked like mad when she and Phil the Greek climbed in.

Thought the whole thing was great and a great advert for Great Britain!

I find it profoundly depressing that the British sense of well-being and community spirit is linked to an institution of enormous power and privilege, especially in these cash-strapped times.

They do seem to be a decent couple and, yes, Westminster Abbey is lovely, but the whole ceremony is like some ye olde theme park. Someone commented that Britain 'does pomp very well'. Well, whoop-di-doo! Is that all we've got to be proud about?

I read today that some neighbours were meeting for the first time at street parties. If a royal wedding is the only way they are going to meet, that's a wretched indictment of our communities and Britishness.

I really thought the reaction to this wedding would be different after the blanket coverage of Diana's wedding and funeral, with the media more fragmented and attitudes to the monarchy cooling.

But the sheep-like conformity in the media and most of the public returned. Why weren't protesters allowed? At least they would have been representative of a sizeable minority in this country.

(By the way, how did the police know about a 'guillotine plot?' Another informer perhaps?)

What a nice day. Didn't Kate look lovely? Well I thought she did. What a shame Will didn't ask her a couple of years back before his hair started to go. And Harry? He is a one. Just because his brother's going a bit thin doesn't mean he can show off. He's an officer. A short back and sides should be what he wears. Just because he's trying to catch the eye of that Pippa. And a right one she is. Going to her sister's wedding with nothing on underneath with all the cameras on her. I ask you. Wouldn't have happened in my day..

But I thought the whole thing was f**king magnificent. And Pippa. Blimey. Yes.

.."Ok we're going to have a few years of lunacy when Chazza takes the throne and we're sent back to the days of the Sun King but I'd rather that than some oily politician shmoozing his way to the Presidency every five years! President Cameron anyone???"

Johann Hari addressed this point with great clarity a couple of weeks ago when he said: "We have also invented a strange series of mental tics to protect the monarchy. Mention a republic and lots of people give the Pavlovian snap-back: "Hah! So you want President Thatcher do you? President Blair?" There is an odd assumption behind this. Did the presence of a hereditary monarch stop Thatcher or Blair doing anything they wanted to do? No. Nothing. Did it even stop them acquiring regal airs? No. Obviously not. This is simply an instinctive spasm of deference - don’t trust us with picking the leaders! Make sure there’s an aristocrat watching over us, stopping us getting funny ideas! How have these notions lingered in our national DNA for so long?"

He goes on to say that in most countries, parents can take some comfort from the fact they can tell their children that if they work hard they might grow up to be their head of state, whereas in the UK, this is decided by one factor alone: birthright. "The US head of state grew up with a mother on food stamps. The British head of state grew up with a mother on postage stamps. Is that a contrast that fills you with pride?"

Still haven't seen any footage of "My Betters" having a high old time of it at the peasants expense. Nice to see that obsequious flag waving at their tax dodging superiors is still considered patriotic amongst those that are more than happy to think of themselves as lesser beings.

I genuinely wasn't that bothered with the wedding yesterday so went for a long walk mainly to try a snap the blue bells before they die back.

On my walk I passed through an ex mining village,a big slightly down at heel council estate , a large estate of newish executive private homes (the sort with new cars and caravanettes on the drive and double carriages etc) and an older rural village with a 17cth church flying the union flag and Geoff Boycott's old house and finally a very well to do hamlet full of gated homes through the gates of which you could peek Aston-Martin's and those bespoke kid's tree houses that cost several grand. The only evidence of a national celebration in this fairly broad cross section of our countries people was one house with a few strings of buntin. I saw nor heard any street parties or any garden parties, I wasn't stopped in the street by people wearing stupid hats I didn't even see any of those pull out and keep "gawd bless the Queen" posters the Mirror etc print up in people's front windows. The odd shop had a few strings of buntin in their windows apart from that it seemed like another day. Especially if you compare it to say the world cup or Halloween etc.

So I'm sure the media especially the BBC will tell us it was a big coming together and a national celebration but it all seemed a bit muted. I'd expected the odd peel of bells and a hog roast outside a country pub, the people in the shops I went into didn't mention it and the talk in the woods was mainly of bluebells and the daftness of lurchers.

It's surprising how these narrative get set up so easily and are often contrary to our own experience of events.

I thought the service was particularly good, the music, the choir, the sermon. It made me proud to be British.

Having said that, this made me laugh out loud. It may contravene site rules. It may even be treasonable, so apologies in advance.

The caption reads: Perhaps that third balcony kiss was one too many

notice toward the end of the wedding service when the Lord Bishop of London said something like "I'm reminded of a pithy quote" and then proceeded read out a religious text that was hundreds of words long, thus rewriting the meaning of the word "pithy" at a stroke.

To paraphrase Half Man Half Biscuit:

'It's Clichéd to be Cynical about the Royal Wedding'

I don't doubt that lots of people watched and enjoyed the wedding. But the figure of 2 billion viewers which has now been accepted by virtually by all the media, even before the wedding took place, seems to have been made up. I just heard on the radio that in the UK there were 25 million viewers on ITV and BBC - so less than half the UK population.

I didn't mind the Royal Wedding, but it's the way so many journalists never question the figures that are handed out to them that is exasperating. The article linked to below is interesting on how bogus so many viewing figures are, particularly for sports events, and including the Royal Wedding. It is based on a study which, for example:

"looked at how claims of a 1bn global audience for the Super Bowl were wrong (100m was closer), how a claim of a 2bn audience for the Winter Olympics of 2006 was more than 1.9bn OTT (reality: 87m), and how a claim of a 1.5bn audience for the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Melbourne was wrong by a factor of 300 – actually 5m were watching!"

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2011/04/26/sincere-good-wishes-to-wi...

The whole thing left me cold, and the quasi-Diana fervour just struck me as a bit pathetic.

If that spectacle is what 'Britishness' is about, then I guess I'm just not very British.

I wonder who he borrowed the uniform from?

Did anyone else catch the announcement that the Govt slashing expenditure on the NHS which came to light yesterday?
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/04/30/new-tory-plans-to-starve-the-nhs...
I know Labour did this type of thing as well, but the ramifications are massive.
Bread and circuses?

I noticed Prince Phillip singing away during God Save The Queen, the temptation for him to change the words must at times be irresistable.

I also noticed The Queen not singing along. I've always wondered what goes through her mind when that is playing, and she's heard it thousands of times in the past fifty years and always with masses of people staring at her. It must make her feel very uncomfortable, although she's probably used to it by now.

When I jotted down these random views I thought the Fearne Cotton one might get things ticking but nothing was forthcoming. The cross section of views here never fails to amaze me, I'm still happier with a Royal Family because I really can't bear the thought of the alternative. Do I think they're better than me? No. Do I think they're different? Yes. To be honest they're welcome to it, I'm not sure I want that kind of privilege and expectation. William and Harry are the best thing to happen to The Royal Family for a long time, possibly ever. Despite all the paraphernalia, the well done pomp and the decadence there were moments, for me at least, that were touchingly normal. I just want to know if Harry did have a crack at Pippa and whether he asked Chelsea to join in.

http://tyrannyoftradition.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/venom-singer-saddened...

Now THAT's a real shame. I suppose every family has at least one "barmy" relative, but c'mon. This is the man who gave the world Black Metal!

Fishing Ospreys at Rutland Water. That's a good way to spend a Royal Wedding day.

Listened to the service on the radio and noted the excellent choice of hymns. The current GLW had two of them at out own rather less grand but hugely enjoyable wedding back in 1988 (not Jerusalem - the other two). But why did they have to spoil it all by having the National Dirge at the end?

by William Walton, my favourite piece of classical music, which I first discovered oddly enough at William's parents wedding:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/that-bit-song#comment-114301

Now, I know Gordon Brown & Tony Blair are not the 2 most popular people on this site, & I can understand a section of people who post here (If I could only think of a collective noun....) not liking either of them.

I think that for whatever reason, the 2 of them not being invited is a snub of the highest order. Surely, as former prime ministers, then they should have been there.

I cant be the only person who thinks that way can I ?

(BTW, on the same point, the DM & DT have been revelling in them not being invited)

However, I think it was a snub of the highest order.

BTW, is beckham a knight yet? (if not, its only a matter of time)

... due to being unavoidably on a remote island with no telly. Did Jude look nice then?

WTF?

Enjoyed carwheeling verger and doesn't Posh need a sausage roll and told to cheer up!

Enjoyed carwheeling verger and doesn't Posh need a sausage roll and told to cheer up!

I hope Kate's upcoming ubiquity will change young British women's views about how to make the best of yourself and to leave the prevailing role models - WAGS - behind. Seeing Kate and her friends made it so apparent just how awful Cole, Rooney, Gerrard, Beckham, Crouch, Peterson, Jordan and all their new-money vulgarian friends are with their tattoos, hair extensions, boob jobs, fake tans, excessive drinking etc.

What surprised me about the day was the apparent amount of positive feeling about it, in the run-up it seemed that the media was making a big fuss but the public mood was of indifference. Certainly people my age (late 20s), aside from a few girls back at school fancying William, to my knowledge always found the royals to be a bit of a joke.

I don't think it's clichéd to be anti-Royal or anti-Wedding, as some may suggest. It's just as valid a standpoint as its opposite and a mixture of reason and feeling ensure no small argument would radically change someone's position either way. Personally, given I work in the public sector and I'm starting to see the redundancies kick in, I found those born into privilege waving their riches at the nation to be in pretty poor taste. The idea that it might somehow lift morale just seems absurd. I'm also lost in ideas of how it connects to Britishness and national pride, as aside from perhaps encouraging existing incorrect national stereotypes and feeding the continuous pre-occupation with celebrity, I saw no relationship between the wedding and real life in this country.

I'm also unsure what difference it would make for us to have a President rather than a Prime Minister - isn't it simply name and tradition? I known the Queen has to sign off on new laws, but she doesn't seem to challenge them as far as I know. Is it to do with the House Of Lords? (Again, another unelected body.)

imagine having a wedding so note worthy that the President of USA schedules his extra-judicial executions around it.

My paper at the conference in Alberta went down very well..