Same Indifference

So the big day is here at last. The whole country has got Royal Wedding Fever and will be glued to their TV sets all day to watch every little nuance. Every road will be closed so that the street party there is held in complete safety, but then nobody will be going anywhere anyway as we will all be joining in the festivities.

Alternatively, it 's all hogwash. Somebody from a well to do background marrying into a family that is full of inbreds, no better than dole scroungers, living off the state and born into privilege.

That's it. Black and white. No shades of grey whatsoever.

But hang on. Neither of those descriptions apply to me. I'm not a royalist, but neither am I a republican. Each member of the royal family is a human being and, like other human beings, I like to take each individual as I find them. Of course, my perception of the Windsors are based entirely on what I have seen heard or read in the media. But William seems a decent enough bloke. Kate seems to have her head screwed on. I wish them both the best in their married life.

I won't be watching. Not because I am anti-wedding. I'm just not that interested. I love weddings of people I know but I don't pop down to church every Saturday to watch strangers getting married. I'm not a Town Hall stalker with my multibuy Costco confetti. And I feel the same about William and Kate. They hold no significance to me. I accept the extra bank holiday with good grace and appreciate the extra time I get to spend with my family.

Mini me 1 is a proper girly girl. She loves being a princess. She has plenty of Disney princess toys and loves princess stories. I asked her what she would like to do on the day of the wedding. Would she like to see Kate live every girls dream and marry her Prince? No, she would rather go for a day out feeding the ducks.

I am not wound up with the saturation media coverage either. I do have a sense of pride that no other country is as good as us in doing the pomp and ceremony thing. One of my fellow school dad's is from Texas and he was telling me how impressed he was with the whole coverage. Maybe, as a veteran of a Silver Jubilee street party, I am a bit blasé about it all. During the summer of 1977 I was able to line the street as the Queen and Prince Phillip drove past on one of the legs of their tour of Britain. To say that I wasn't impressed to wait for over two hours at the side of a road to watch a black car go past is, to say the least, a bit of an understatement. So when Charles and Di got married, I was playing football on the lawn of the holiday cottages we were staying at with my brother, cousin and a gang of Geordies lads, whilst the aunties and mums watched the ceremony.

So, as I wish the newlyweds all the happiness that marriage can bring them, including the opportunity to push Harry a little further down the line of ascent, I will be enjoying the best part of my own wedding day. And that is the time I spend with my family.