Peter Phillips wedding — fandango or fiasco?
Do you sometimes get the feeling you are being led a merry dance, or up the garden path and down an Irish country mile? That’s what the wedding of Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly on Saturday at Windsor, is beginning to feel like.
The wedding has been full of contradictions from the moment it was announced.
First, it would be held at Windsor, but then it was moved to Scotland — to the church at Balmoral. Now it’s back at Windsor again in St. George’s Chapel and with a full complement of Royal guests.
Then we were assured that Peter would renounce his rights of succession to the Throne, as his bride-to-be is a Roman Catholic. But hold on, Autumn will now renounce her Catholicism instead.
The situation has not been much clearer over the girlfriend duo either. Chelsy Davy wasn’t invited at first, but Kate Middleton was. Now Chelsy is invited but Kate won’t go.
Prince William would be a supporter (best man), then an usher. Now he’s going on holiday. His change of mind is alternatively given as a reluctance to see Kate upstage Autumn, or as a gesture against the pre-wedding publicity.
Could all this be a deliberate ploy to keep the press and public guessing, or is the whole wedding a fiasco worthy of Gordon Brown?
Peter is known for being an intensely private man with few pretensions. The wedding, we were told, would be low-key and mostly off-camera. Now the couple has sold the wedding to Hello! magazine, which published a 20-page spread last week. Hello! also has some rights to exclusive pictures of the wedding itself. The fee is reported to be £500,000 ($1m).
It does seem to be a strange way to organize what is, in all but name, a Royal wedding at Windsor in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Or might they be delayed on their return from a State visit to Turkey?
Anything could happen between now and Saturday. We’ve got our ears to the ground. Both of them.
I will be frequently checking RA this weekend for updates and answers…the suspense is killing me! I’m glad we only have a few more days of this…
By Claire on May 15th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Claire, the one thing they’ve managed to hang on to is the element of surprise.
By John on May 15th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I have a feeling that the wedding is probably no more chaotic than any other. It’s the speculation (OUR speculation) that’s been all over the map, and repeatedly proved wrong. I’m not convinced the wedding venue was ever reconsidered once the decision was made; I doubt there was ever a tug o’ war over who would renounce their heritage–Peter and Autumn surely discussed it and worked it out privately, as all couples should; and as for the guest list, it’s all been rumor and gossip from the usual “inside sources.”
It’s us crazy speculators who are more Gordon Brownish: we take every rumor–no matter the source–and run with it, and then when it is disproved, ascribe the confusion to chaos within the court.
The chaos is us! Myself included.
If there’s one thing–make that two things–the Royal Family know how to do, it’s weddings and funerals. No doubt they’ll hit this one out of the park as well.
Let’s face it, we just think they’re all nuts because, honestly, how can they have a proper wedding when they haven’t invited us??!
By Dan on May 15th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Dan, Royal Anecdotes is probably the most sceptical of the Royal websites. We ignore most of the stuff out there and have a league table of reliabilty for sources.
Unfortunately, when a reliable source just gets it wrong, or is fed rubbish, there’s nothing we can do about it. I often think some of the main players delight in wrong-footing us. Prince William is known to like “smokescreens”.
Well, this wedding seems to have a lot of them.
By John on May 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
John, agreed.
As for not inviting us, it’s their loss. It just happens that I am otherwise engaged this Saturday, anyway. (With the washer and dryer, the lawn mower, the mop and bucket…)
By Dan on May 15th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
This wedding has more twist and turns than Chucky’s when he married Cammy. Is it legal? why is HM snubbing the registry service? The Pontiff haveing made the unfortunate timing of his passing?. Like all royal wedding there is more hype and gossip than truth.
By Trudie on May 15th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Would it ever be possible for William and Kate to have a “private” wedding? Or, will there’s be another Charles/Diana televised event? I hope so, for our sakes, but if he could avoid that, I get the feeling he would.
(And yes, I’m talking about WHEN they marry, not IF.) *smile*
By Claire on May 15th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Claire I’m not sure that would go down to well with the general public in the UK we have all been waiting for it for so long it would be a huge anti-climax for them to have a private wedding but John or Gigi would be able to clarify on whether they would be able to do that.
I do wonder if all of the cloak and dagger events recently are in order to prepare for an announcement shortly after Autumn and Phillips wedding. Who knows I’ll be on here first thing saturday morning the wedding should be over by the time I wake up and the news rampant!!
By Jackie Mccoy on May 15th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Perhaps, if Prince Charles kept HIS ears to the ground, we would know a lot more about the wedding.
By Arthur on May 15th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
The Sun is reporting (…consider the source…) that Kate Middleton will be at Peter & Autumn’s wedding… but Prince William has chosen to join Jecca Craig’s family for her brother’s Masai-themed wedding in Kenya on the same day.
At first read, that hardly seems believable…
but the last two weeks have left me dizzy!
By Evelyn on May 16th, 2008 at 12:00 am
The Daily Mail is reporting the same thing. Kate will act as Prince William’s representative at the wedding. I guess the prior engagement was the Jecca Craig’s brother’s wedding.
I guess they came to a compromise. At least Kate will be coming.
I am sorry that William won’t be there. I guess the questions have been answered. (at least for now)
By kat on May 16th, 2008 at 12:11 am
The Daily Mail article is written by Rebecca English and Richard Kay, and has much better info than The Sun. Well, now this is starting to make some sense.
By Evelyn on May 16th, 2008 at 12:32 am
This also then means that William didn’t pull out of Peter’s wedding because of the Hello! articles. He’s honoring a prior commitment, made before Peter & Autumn set their wedding date.
But I wonder why no one realized the conflict, and suggested that P&A choose a different date.
By Evelyn on May 16th, 2008 at 12:37 am
When someone at the airport said that William and Kate flew out of Heathrow Sunday, they probably flew down to Africa. It was reported that he flew down last Sunday. Kate was with William, so it follows that they are there together. Kate will then fly back for Peter & Autumn’s wedding. I am excited for her that she will be with the royal family. It shows how close she and William are. I can’t wait to hear about it.
By kat on May 16th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Yes, so W&K are off on holiday together this week, in Africa. It isn’t a spur-of-the-moment getaway; it’s been planned all along, though some of the details may have been arranged more recently.
Yes, the fact that Kate plans to be with the Royal Family speaks volumes for their relationship.
I hope they announce their engagement before William leaves for his naval attachment.
By Evelyn on May 16th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I have my fingers and toes crossed!
By kat on May 16th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Ok, I know I’m a bad person for saying this, but that Jecca Craig just won’t go away. If this story is true I’m bummed. Why would he want Kate going alone to Peter’s wedding?
By dally on May 16th, 2008 at 4:12 am
I don’t think that you are a bad person for saying that. I just believe that william and kate are in love. By Kate going to the wedding, it shows a lot to me. Jecca has William’s friendship but I believe that Kate has his heart. Hopefully for the next wedding, William and Kate will be together because it will be theirs. I was hoping that they would go together to Autumn and Peter’s wedding. However, I am excited that Kate will be there.
By kat on May 16th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Dally, Kate won’t be alone at the wedding. Prince Harry, Chelsy and the entire Royal Family will be there. Also, no matter how magical Prince William is, he can’t be on two different continents at the same time. So, Kate will attend Peter and Autumn’s wedding to represent Prince William as well as herself, and Prince William will attend the Craig wedding. It is a perfectly appropriate solution to a problem of two people who are very important to Prince William choosing the same date for their weddings!
As for Prince William and Kate being able to have a private wedding, I would say that is highly unlikely. The only semi-private wedding that I can recall among the upper echelon of the Royal Family was that of Princess Beatrice, the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Prince Consort. She married Prince Henry of Battenberg (nicknamed “Liko”) in the little church of Whippingham on the Isle of Wight and it was as private a service as was then possible. This arrangement was managed because the widowed Queen Victoria could not bear to have crowds of people, meaning the Crowned Heads of Europe, at the wedding of her last child, as she was still deeply mourning the death of her beloved husband. Of course, Princess Beatrice was the ninth child of the then reigning Sovereign, and there was no question that she might ever ascend the throne. Prince William is the Heir and after Charles dies, he will be King. His wedding will be a wedding of State and as such will have to be governed by the strictest of Royal Protocol. That, I believe, would mean the service in Westminster Abbey or Saint Paul’s with the Royal Wedding Breakfast at either Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, Prince Harry as his brother’s Supporter and the same or similar pageantry that made the wedding of the Queen and Prince Philip and Charles and Princess Diana so magical.
By Gigi on May 16th, 2008 at 4:38 am
This is getting more and more weird. Why does it only come out now that William has to attend another wedding this weekend? Surely if he knew all along, the papers could have catched up on this earlier especially if it’s a wedding within the Craig family. Why all the reports that William would be best man and attend together with Kate etc.? I guess the Mystique story clearly was false then since they appear to have gone to Kenya instead. While it’s certainly a nice gesture for Kate to go to Peter’s wedding, I still find it strange that William would prefer the wedding of Jecca’s brother (not even her own) to that of his cousin whom he’s supposedly very close to. Why could Peter not have chosen another wedding date then? Or why could Will and Kate not simply have attended the Africa wedding together? Him in Africa with his ex will only give the press another excuse to write up possible triangle stories in the future. All of this still doesn’t make sense to me. But then shortly before the Klosters trip Richard Kay claimed Jecca would join William and Kate there and she didn’t. It looks like they have to drag her into every story about these two for some reason.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they’ll both be there tomorrow.
By Isana on May 16th, 2008 at 7:52 am
So Dean Rousewell of The People was quite wrong :
“Royal sources say the pair grew wary after Princess Anne’s son and blonde Autumn signed a £500,000 [$1m] deal with celebrity mag Hello!” A “senior aide” is reported to have told The People, “William and Kate had provisionally agreed to go. But it became obvious there was a danger of the whole thing turning into a disaster. Kate was very concerned about how it would be seen if attention was focused on her. And when William heard about the mag deal his mind was made up. The Queen also thought it was a wise decision. Her motto has always been: ‘Never let light in on the magic’ — the Royals must retain their mystique. A holiday was arranged and William told Peter it was for the best.”
If the new stories are correct all that is completely wrong and the “senior aide” was undoubtedly false.
By John on May 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
It is a perfectly appropriate solution to a problem of two people who are very important to Prince William choosing the same date for their weddings!
Gigi, I would hope that Jecca Craig’s brother is not as important to William as Kate.
This tale still doesn’t hang together for me. The apparent sighting at the airport can be discounted in the absence of other information. There’s still “the fog of war” swirling around this wedding. I bet there’ll be yet more changes before tomorrow dawns.
By John on May 16th, 2008 at 9:17 am
William and Kate’s wedding will be the biggest Royal wedding since Charles and Diana. It could possibly be done at Windsor, but would have to be public. My guess is the Abbey — St Paul’s would bring back too many memories.
As for tomorrow’s lucky dip — it may yet be held in Scotland, Pravda is reporting
— all bets are off. We’ll just have to accept what’s served up from scores of mystery menus.
By John on May 16th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I meant that the two weddings of equal importance to Prince Willian were the Craig wedding and the Philips-Kelly wedding, John. But you are absolutely correct that no one could make up the incredible twists and turns of the arrangements for the Philips wedding. It is getting more like the Mad Hatter’s Teaparty all the time!
The funny part will be if Prince William and Kate DO show up at the Philips-Kelly wedding. There will be a few reporters with egg all over their faces. If it has been Prince William’s aim to keep everyone guessing, he has certainly achieved his aim brilliantly.
By Gigi on May 16th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Well, then maybe William is attempting to set himself apart from his grandmother. The Queen doesn’t keep people guessing very often!
By Evelyn on May 16th, 2008 at 11:55 pm