Well yes, proud to be British today
It is thrilling to see things done quite with quite such splendid perfection. It occurred to me too that gazillions of people, including most of the population of a Britain, beaten down by whinging secular killjoys, spent at least a little part of today following a religious service and listening to good sacred music, being inspired by it, and not feeling that their rights had been infringed or that they had been offended.
To be perfectly honest, I have been rather busy and have several funerals coming up, so I actually forgot about it all this morning until phoning the Vicar General about something and having to be reminded that it was a "Bank Holiday". (Not having a telly does at least release you from the obligation of national hysteria.) Looking at the coverage later, I was impressed by the sheer excellence of the Liturgy, and the procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. I agree with Damian Thompson about the music and we should, I think, take our hats off to the dear old Church of England for the ceremony. Perhaps some advocates of happy-clappy liturgy might just join the dots after seeing what really inspires the general public?
As a priest, I do lament that the happy couple have been living together for some time before their marriage, and therefore have set a bad example to others. Nevertheless, the pastoral aim is always to encourage cohabiting couples to marry, and to celebrate when they do, so I think that is the right thing to do today. I will certainly be remembering them in my prayers. Ad multos annos!
You may remember from this blog before, that I take a keen interest in the cars that are used at weddings. Prince Charles was a good egg to lend his son a vintage Aston Martin to drive off in.