Madison Ford
Staff Writer
Kate Middleton will live out many young girls’ fantasies on Friday, fulfilling a destiny unattainable to most: marrying a prince. Anticipation has been building globally, and as the Royal Wedding approaches, the world tunes in to witness a commoner becoming a princess.
Middleton, a commoner from Berkshire, England, met Prince William of Wales when they both attended college at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Following many years of an on-again, off-again relationship, the couple announced their engagement in November 2010. The anticipation for the event has been building worldwide, and Royal Wedding fever appears to have hit Coppell High School.
Many students hold excitement toward the event due to its fabled aspect.
“[Prince William and Kate Middleton] are like a real life fairy tale,” senior Victoria Fleming said. “And she wasn’t from a royal family, she was just a commoner, so it’s like a real life princess fairy tale.”
The media buzz around the royal wedding is extensive, which seems to follow in the footsteps of the wedding of Prince William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana. This extreme public interest has left some wondering, “Why the hype?” Some feel an element of celebrity has been attached with the royal family, proving them to be more of an icon than a world leader.
“[People] probably take interest because we are always interested in celebrities,” junior Kirsten Hansen said. “Definitely in [Prince William’s] case because he is very attractive, so people find him more interesting, rather than just, ‘Hey, he is a [prince]’. He doesn’t really do much – parliament does.”
The upcoming wedding has left some reflecting on the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. One of the defining moments of the 1980s, this royal wedding in 1981 made its mark by making the royal family a part of pop culture. While much of this newfound world interest in the personal lives of the British royalty was due to Princess Diana, the celebrity persona has been passed down to her sons. Now that Prince William, heir to the throne, is preparing to marry, the world is reigniting their interest.
“They are more excited because when Prince William was born they just welcomed him with open arms, I mean the world did, and now this baby has grown up to be this great young man and now the whole world is watching,” Spanish teacher Yvonne Arista said.
While the hope remains that Prince William’s wedding will not hold the same conclusion as his parents’ tumultuous divorce, the excitement over his wedding seems to match that of Princess Diana’s.
However, not all CHS students share this vicarious interest in the royal family.
“There are things in America that we should be worrying about instead,” junior Sam FIllingim said.
The fact the royal wedding is not as relevant to Americans has also left some less than thrilled about the nuptials.
“I am uninterested [in the royal wedding]. I don’t really care what is going on. It doesn’t concern me,” junior Jake Farris said.
The excitement over the royal wedding, expectedly, appears to fall more among girls at CHS. However, the interest in the royal wedding, although not all inclusive, spans gender, generation and nationality as the highly anticipated day arrives.
The royal wedding will be broadcast live and for those at CHS who are eager to catch moment to moment progress of the wedding, this means getting up at 3 a.m. due to the transatlantic time change. However, for some royal wedding fanatics, an early wakeup is worth witnessing a real life fairy tale.
For more royal wedding hype, check out this parody of the upcoming ceremony.
