Admittedly, they are a winsome twosome who brought back excitement
and glamour to the British royal family. But why the blazes are we so
dazzled by the likes of them?
TOMORROW, the most famous and
glamorous royal pair in the world comes to town: Prince William and
Princess Catherine a.k.a. the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
What a mouthful but, boy, don’t we just love the sound of it – so posh, so noble and yes, sooooo romantic.
It’s
a tad ironic that many nations in the last couple of centuries dumped
their monarchs in revulsion over their feudalistic, despotic ways, yet
royalty’s power to excite the imagination has not dimmed.
For
example, South Korea is stoutly republic but that hasn’t stopped its TV
stations producing many popular K-dramas based on a fictional royal
family set in modern times.
The ones I’ve seen usually have
storylines of a long-lost princess or prince being discovered or the
royal family battling conspiracies and winning the love and support of
the Korean citizenry.
British royalty, however, has lasted – “as
old as the hills”, as one wit described it on an online site – and is
arguably “first among equals” where royal houses are concerned.
Despite
its lineage, by the latter half of the 20th century, Queen Elizabeth II
and her family had settled into stodgy respectability and were admired
in a rather detached way.
After all, it was hard to go gaga over
them when they were rather dull and not particularly good-looking or
trendy. Princess Margaret was slightly scandalous but she seemed more
desperate than daring.
Enter Diana and British royalty was turned on its head.
No one could and still can’t beat her combination of beauty, glamour, charity and blue blood.
I
was in London the day she died on Aug 31, 1997. When I came back, I
lamented her passing in a long column in the Sept 11, 1997, issue of Clove.
In
it, I mentioned how I missed the opportunity to see her in person
because she died a few weeks before she was due to attend an AIDS
charity gala in Singapore.
If I had met Diana, I would be able to
boast of a hattrick of sorts – seeing in the flesh three generations of
British royalty. That’s because I had tea with Queen E when she came to
KL for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1989 and I am
attending the British-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce lunch on Friday
where William will give a speech with Kate in tow.
Queen
Elizabeth in person looked exactly like her photos and she spoke in a
tinkly, girlish voice. And what did we talk about? The weather. The
Malaysian weather, to be exact.
And she was funny. During her
1989 visit, she made a trip to Ipoh at the invitation of Sultan Azlan
Shah. It had rained before her plane touched down.
As I recall,
Queen E shared that when Sultan Azlan escorted her from the plane, he
wanted to guide her down the red carpet that had been rolled out. But
the rain had soaked the carpet and she said she didn’t want to walk on
it, probably because she didn’t want to ruin her shoes.
She
painted an amusing picture of two royal persons ever so courteously
jostling each other on the red carpet without batting a protocol eyelid.
I have kept the invitation card embossed with her crest which states: The
Master of the Household is commanded by Her Majesty to invite Ms June
H.L. Wong to a Reception to be given by The Queen and The Duke of
Edinburgh at Carcosa Seri Negara on Tuesday, 17th October, 1989, at
5.00p.m.
I never found out who the Master of the Household was and why I was invited but I am eternally grateful for the experience.
But why should this piece of cardboard be precious enough for me to keep?
After
all, as a Malaysian, I have royals aplenty of my own, all nine
households. So why am I quite thrilled by Will and Kate’s visit? I am
not the only one: all the 1,100 seats at the BMCC lunch were snapped up a
month ago.
That’s a question a UK TV station wants to ask The Star
editors – Why are Malaysians interested in British royals so removed
from their life? – as part of its coverage of the visit. I am still
mulling over my answers to that and other questions.
I can say
it’s because we were a former colony and/or protectorate and being part
of the Commonwealth, we never completely severed our ties with Old
Blighty.
My 85-year-old dad can still sing God Save The King which he learnt as a schoolboy!
I
can say it’s because many Malaysians speak English as a first language,
earned their degrees in the UK and there is such a familiarity with
Britain that London is sardonically described as a second home to rich
Malaysians.
And yes, I must add that Malaysians are crazy English football fans.
I should point out we aren’t interested in all British royals though – just the queen, these two and Harry.
And
that possibly because we were so enamoured of Diana that we are merely
continuing that obsession through her sons and daughter-in-law who are –
fortunately or unfortunately – young, good-looking and trendy, vital
factors in today’s visual-fuelled world.
And who doesn’t love a real-life story of a commoner who wins the heart of a prince and becomes a nation’s future queen?
But
I honestly believe that if Kate was plain, we wouldn’t be so
interested. That’s why Sarah Ferguson and Sophie (Prince Edward’s wife
lah!) never wowed us the way Diana did.
In time to come when
William loses more hair, he may also lose his shine, the way his dad
did. How Kate holds up and evolves in her role as princess remains to be
seen and, therefore, her longevity on the popularity scale.
But for now, they are the It Royal Couple. Welcome to Malaysia, Your Highnesses.
>
If you can offer other reasons why we are interested in British royals
and what it is you like to read about the Duke and Duchess, let the
writer know so that the better she can answer the UK TV station people.
Ta and toodle pip!
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Showing posts with label Diana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diana. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
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