Royal Wedding

Photographer: Marcello Pozzetti

I was not particularly interested in  the Royal Wedding. I am happy for Wills and Kate, now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, they are young and in love, and I wish them well just as I would any other  couple on their wedding day. Weddings are joyous occasions and I generally like them.  However, unintentionally,  the Royal Wedding ended up playing a big part in my day.
I have a placement at a hospital where I follow a group of clients doing therapy with a qualified DMP and I normally have a session on a Friday morning. Royal Wedding day and Bank Holiday it was but hospitals are open 24/7 and the therapy session was still on.
So I had to get up at  five  in order to reach the hospital to avoid getting caught in the crowds gathering at Westminster  and on the Buckingham Palace Road - my route involved cutting through central London, there really was no other way of getting to the hospital. I was very tired because yesterday evening I came back home late, I was involved in the Tree of Hope fundraising catwalk show - I was modelling cashmere outfits, so very hot it was too, but fun. I was so shattered last night  that I ended up sleeping with my hair all pinned up, I could not be bothered to undo the French pleat. So at five in the morning my alarm clock went off and I jumped out of bed, wondering why my head felt so heavy. I remembered. We had champagne to celebrate the end of the show and I dont do too well if I drink champagne.
Anyway I removed the pins,  got ready and got out to catch my train.

Photographer: Andy "Keenbeginner"

When I arrived at the hospital wing where we do our session there was hardly anyone. It turned out everyone was in the TV room, and the session started late.  The patients had to be called in to attend one by one, some did not want to be in the session at all but wanted to follow the build up to the wedding - it was only nine, the wedding did not start till eleven but they still wanted to watch.  Some hospital staff members were also in the TV room - Royal Wedding fever had caught up with everyone.
We did the session of course, there was no question of skipping it. At the end of every session which normally goes on for one hour and a bit I  hang around for another hour to write my notes and wait for my supervision, which is the time when  I can discuss what happened in session and can ask various questions . I usually do this in the large waiting room by reception, because it is quiet, it overlooks the beautiful grounds and I can sit on a plush sofa and have some coffee. As I made my way to reception from the therapy room I went past the TV room and everyone was back in there! At that point Miss Middleton was just stepping out of her car and everyone gasped when THE DRESS was revealed. "So Grace Kellyesque" said the BBC commentator. That did it for me, I had to sit and watch too, scribbling some bullet points in my notebook for my supervision to follow, as I was watching and sipping coffee at the same time.

Photographer: Mark Cadogan 

Some patients had a small TV set in their rooms and were watching in private, but several of them  were happy to sit in the large TV room, to chat and comment aloud.  By then all the other therapy sessions had been moved to the afternoon, for some mysterious reason. Hospital staff were also in there, moving in and out, as they also had to attend to other matters. So the TV room saw a constant flow of people who would come in briefly, catch up with the ceremony, exchange a few comments and then out again on their business.
I did the same. I went for supervision when the time came, got ready to leave the hospital as soon as supervision was over, but again went past the TV room. By then the wedding ceremony  had ended but everyone was gearing up to watch the young royals coming out on the balcony to wave to the  crowds - and a delicious cake was being passed on in the TV room to everyone. I dont know where that cake came from but it really was mouthwatering. So I stayed, ate my cake slice, watched the newly weds wave and kiss and finally headed for home.

I dont have much to add to what has already been said about the Royal Wedding. There are plenty of features written by experts on how significant this day has been for the British monarchy. The wedding was watched globally by two billion people, a staggering figure, and we are being told by various commentators how this wedding was symbolically a wedding of the British monarchy to the public.
Hmm. Some of us are not so convinced by this gloss and are instead considering the impact of this event on  the tax payers and the fact it happens right at the time of the AV referendum . Coincidence?
But...we got an extra holiday, great weather and the newly weds truly are a lovely couple. Nothing like a wedding, and a royal one at that, to cheer you up on a beautiful spring day.

(All photos modelled by Alex B.)