London Youth Underwhelmed By Royal Wedding

LONDON — Prince William and Kate Middleton are set to marry Friday in the most high profile Royal Wedding since Princess Diana’s in 1981.
For some in Britain it is a cause for celebration.
But others wonder whether such a grand celebration of our hereditary elite is a good thing, especially while Britain is trying to support those who are rising up against their own unelected leaders in Africa and the Middle East.
The wedding has caused a media frezy across the world. One family friend, who works with the foreign press, has been offered numerous bribes for camera positions at Westminster Abbey. Such is the competition for positions that even if he wished to accept a bribe, corruption at this event would be well above his pay grade.
The old adage goes, ‘there’s no such thing as bad press,’ but this event raises the question of how we in the UK wish to be portrayed.
For me, this wedding doesn’t show us in the best light.
Instead of highlighting the democratic pedigree and multicultural attitudes of modern Britain, we look instead like a waning postcolonial power clinging onto the coattails of past glory – and all this at great cost to the British taxpayer.
Even this would be fine if it was an event that the British people were genuinely excited about.
Instead, while the response has been by no means entirely negative, there has been an underwhelming ambivalence, especially among young people.
This is not for lack of trying on the part of the press, the royals or the government.
Prime Minister David Cameron has been encouraging Royal Wedding street parties. He even went as far as to say people should ignore the red tape of official channels. Local government officials called such a message irresponsible pointing out that such bureaucracy is designed so people don’t set up trestle tables on roads that lead to hospitals.
At the same time as royalists are being given free reign over their use of public spaces, pro-democracy protestors in Parliament Square have not being shown such lenience.
Brian Haw, who has been camped out in the square for 10 years, has been told to leave by the courts. This follows a concerted attempt to have protesters evicted by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, which echoes of China removing free Tibet protesters from Beijing in the build-up to the 2008 Olympic games.
Regardless of how easy it has been made to set up a street party, I don’t know why people would want to attend one. I have always thought that weddings tend to be thoroughly unexciting affairs, even when you’ve actually been invited.
For those of us who don’t wish to join the Royal Wedding party there is the anti-monarchist ‘not the royal wedding street party’ hosted by the pro-democracy group Republic. Their event is also scheduled for Friday despite numerous attempts by Camden’s council to ban the street party.
In my opinion, there are only a few moments that Britain will have the attention of the world media and it is a pity that this is one of them.
I won’t be watching because I genuinely do not care what type of dress Kate Middleton is wearing.
I’m not even concerned about whether she travels to Westminster Abbey in a car or a horse drawn carriage.
Our world image should be more than the promotion of an aging dynasty wielding a nonexistent power because the Royal Family is irrelevant to most people.
When kings and queens are the best known features of a functioning democracy, you know something isn’t right.