In October Meghan and Harry will be in Sydney for Harry’s pet project, the Invictus Games. A regional tour is planned as part of their visit, with Bathurst and the Hunter Valley tipped as the likely spots. Given the wonderful reception that The Queen received in 1954, why is Wagga not a front-runner?
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Sydney was chosen for the games partly because of its “proud military heritage”. There will be huge crowds not only to cheer on the “wounded warriors”, but also to see the newlyweds.
Well, Wagga is a military town, with two bases for Harry and Meghan to visit, plus we have some commendable new buildings and research facilities (and researchers) to show at the university, and so on.
Hosting Harry and Meghan would be great publicity for Wagga, plus we would all have the pleasure of celebrating our own crowd scenes, just like in Windsor!
If you doubt the popularity of the royals, four million Australians tuned in to watch the Royal Wedding, 75.5 per cent of the Saturday night audience.
We watched with our grandchildren. They loved the expensive dresses and hats. They loved the cars, the crowds, and of course seeing the lovely bride. They loved the formality. Children marvel at fairytale spectacle, but the Royal Wedding was the real thing.
The sermon by America’s first black archbishop caused some debate. But why? Most appropriate, I thought, since the tabloids and trashy magazines had spent so much time debating Meghan’s mixed-race heritage.
In today’s world, who doesn’t have some mixed blood in their family tree?
The sermon was a good fit with Prince Harry’s charity work with the poor throughout the world, but particularly in Africa. Meghan has already been on an African tour, and Harry had an African orphan as his special guest at the wedding. Meghan has a long record of charity work since childhood.
The sermon was too long, too “American”, too flamboyant, for a royal occasion. However his message was on track.
And as for the rubbish about the congregation squirming as he spoke, with clips of dignitaries looking aside or at the ceiling, I think that if I had been a guest I would have been distracted by the wonderful architecture!
The wedding has been an interesting social study. I thought it was sad that so much media attention was given to Meghan’s embarrassing father, and her dysfunctional family. We all have a not-for-show relative.
Having worked in schools I have seen too many cases of children with useless or absentee parents, mostly fathers, but a few drunken mothers, too.
For the girls in those families, the fairytale Royal Wedding was a love story that gives everyone hope and faith.
When Meghan’s father couldn’t, or wouldn’t, walk her down the aisle, perhaps that was good fortune. Prince Charles, heir to the throne, her future father-in-law, gave the occasion royal dignity as he escorted her to the altar.
In contrast to her father, Meghan’s social-worker mother Doria looked so beautiful and emotional at the wedding. Do the women’s magazines ever write inspirational stories about hope and poise? Doria Ragland was it.
The wedding was an uplifting occasion. Great for British tourism, great for Britain’s spirits. Wagga does great parades and ceremonies, too. Why can’t Wagga be chosen to host the Harry and Meghan regional visit?