But where can you celebrate the royal wedding on vacation in the UK if your name doesn’t have that distinctly royal ring? Here are the best places to sample that royal experience, whatever your degree of royal fervour.
Photo Caption: Royal Wedding commemorative plate. Photo by KKOutlet.
God Save the Queen
You can bet your Charles and Diana commemorative teapot that the wedding procession route will be jam-packed with Union Jack-waving well-wishers. Conservative estimates put that number at 1.5 million so arrive early to bag a good spot along The Mall, Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall or Parliament Square. The bride will travel to Westminster Abbey by car but the newlyweds will retrace the route back to Buckingham Palace in an open carriage at midday.
Walking the procession route before the big day will give you the royal perspective. Start with the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace and admire the pelicans in St James Park. Move from autocracy to democracy as you wander along Whitehall, past 10 Downing Street, Big Ben and Parliament Square. Finish at Westminster Abbey, royal wedding venue and final resting place of many a monarch including Mary I, Elizabeth I and George II.
Photo Caption: The Long Walk at Windsor Castle. Photo by Flickr/hmcotterill.
Any excuse for a party
If the thought of fighting over-excited crowds for a glimpse of freshly buffed royal flesh puts you off your bangers and mash, get your taste of royalty elsewhere. St Paul’s Cathedral survived the bombs of World War II to host the wedding of Charles to Diana, resplendent in her 25-foot wedding dress train. Practice saying “I do” in the dome’s Whispering Gallery, where a design quirk makes a whisper audible on the opposite side.
The Queen’s main residence is Windsor Castle, the oldest and biggest inhabited castle in the world. If the flag is flying, the Queen is home. Travel there by train, getting off at Windsor and Eton Station where part of Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech was filmed. You can then take a stroll along The Long Walk, a tree-lined, poker-straight avenue from George IV Gateway to the 1829 Copper Horse statue on Snow Hill.
Photo Caption: Boscobel House and the Royal Oak. Photo by English Heritage.
Hang me for treason
Not everyone in the UK adores the royal family. While many Brits relish the prospect of a royal wedding, or at the very least the prospect of an extra public holiday, it’s fair to say that there are a few among us who would, quite frankly, abolish the royal family altogether. Of course, it’s all in keeping with a strong British tradition of attempting to overthrow the monarchy.
After executing Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell ran England as a republic. Two years later he had to hunt down Charles’ son, Charles II, who was trying to rouse the royalists into an uprising. To cut a long story short, Cromwell’s army won and Charles II fled, finding shelter in an English oak tree in the grounds of Boscobel House, Shropshire.
Timber-framed Boscobel House still stands and is open to visitors. The descendant of Charles II’s oak tree stands in its grounds – the original oak was hacked apart by souvenir hunters. Nowadays The Royal Oak is one of Britain’s most popular pub names and a very appropriate place to raise a pint to Britain’s monarchy, past, present and future.
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