Quotidian Art: Because It Defies Gravity

After much planning and anticipation it all went off without a hitch, excepting Princess Beatrice of York's unfortunate hat choice. I hate to devote more cyberspace to this topic, but seriously, how can I not? The hat defies gravity, both physical and emotional. In fact, I've changed my original idea for this post to focus only on the hat. The hat heard 'round the world.

(Princess E and Princess B and a man with a far less silly hat.)

(To quote my witty friend, Lane B. "Flesh colored bows are always in fashion. NO.")

I watched the wedding LIVE this morning on BBC America. It was all going well... crowds waving the Union Jack, multiple handsome princes and the ultra-modern royal BMW bus coaches.

I thought that the transportation of the royal family was a nice touch; they all arrived together so you knew they were important while indicating that the really important people were right behind, i.e. HRM Queen Elizabeth II and Miss Glossy Chestnut Curls, the soon-to-be Mrs. Prince. However, they didn't arrive in gilded carriages or limos. The the royal uncles, aunts and cousins and their consorts (hehe) arrived by Volkswagen motor coach minibuses. I thought it was both practical and reasonably modest. It was exciting when the Queen's children and their children began to unload. I had this feeling that they were actually real people, albeit with incredible clothes and the ability to look bored in the face of exceptional pageantry.

That's what I thought.

And then there was the hat. The hat shattered any notion I had of "grounded" royals.

(I love how this photo really emphasizes the roundness of hat and face set against the Lady-Gaga-Gothic eyeliner.)

I honestly don't know how anyone goes out to a church wedding with that on their head and maintains composure. Actually, I don't know how anyone in the Abbey was able to "keep their countenance" as she passed them on the way to her seat. Kudos to all. Really. Kudos.

Did I mention that she was seated immediately behind the Queen? Yes, that's right. Nearly every time there was shot of the Queen in her buttercup yellow suit (leading the "I'm bored" charge for all the royals except for William and Harry) there was THE HAT. On my second viewing, watched with my family members that didn't want to get up at 3 AM, I turned the more sedate parts of the ceremony into a game of "find crazy Bea's hat." I began to wonder if the camera men were playing their own game: how much of the Queen can we shoot without capturing the flesh-bow hat?

In retrospect I'm left wondering just one thing: in the royal reception line at Buckingham Palace, how did the newest addition to the royal family (Mrs. Glossy Chestnut Curls) react to the hat? Did she loose her much heralded composure?

I kinda hope so. I really do. Then we would know, for sure, that William married a great gal.