Royal Wedding: how to enjoy it (and avoid it)
Whooping as you string up the bunting or throwing a royal wobbly? Channel 4 News takes a look at some of the alternative Royal Wedding events, plus a guide to avoiding the national party altogether.
(Camilla the King Charles spaniel sits with fans camping at Westminster Abbey. Picture:Reuters)
Posh camping
With the influx of tourists from all over the world, hotel rooms in London are at a premium. A relatively inexpensive alternative for those determined to stick it out and mark the day is “glamping” (glamorous camping) at Camp Royale on Clapham Common. For £75, you get three nights’ accommodation and access to the street party on the Common, where a giant screen will be showing live footage from Westminster Abbey. The organisers of Camp Royale promise their campsite will be clean, safe, quiet and fun – and it has room for 10,000 people.
Cockney knees-up
If a right royal sing-song around the old Joanna is what you fancy, then head for Leonard Street in east London. It’s a free street party, featuring a live outdoor screening of the Royal Wedding plus vintage fair, fancy dress, music, a barbecue and rumours of an appearance from the Pearly Kings and Queens.
Organiser Loriann Luckings told Channel 4 News: “We want to bring a little magic to Shoreditch to celebrate the Royal Wedding – and show that East London does it best.”
All the advance wristbands have been handed out, so get down early to get in. The party extends into a Right Royal Knees Up at the Book Club.
(A Pearly Queen gets her glad rags on for Kate and William. Picture:Getty)
Picnic, pet
It’s not all about glamping outside Westminster Abbey y’know, wedding events are kicking off all over the country. South Tyneside Council will be showing the Royal Wedding on big screens in South Marine Park, South Shields. Members of the public are encouraged to take a picnic down to the seafront park to enjoy the big day and while London could see storm clouds gathering for Kate and Wills, the forecast for the rest of the UK is bright.
Rock the wedding boat
Those sailing between New York and Southampton aboard the Queen Mary II on 29 April will be dining in royal style at a special dinner for William and Kate in the 1,000 seat Royal Court Theatre. Similar royal wedding events, complete with champagne toasts, are also planned on the Queen Victoria – which will be at sea in the Mediterranean – and the Queen Elizabeth as it heads for Southampton. Approximately 14,000 passengers on P&O, Princess and MSC cruises will also be able to watch and celebrate the wedding as they sail.
Around the world
Expats living thousands of miles away from London needn’t worry about missing the Royal Wedding. Events are taking place from New York to Dubai to Sydney. The British Club of Bahrain is holding a champagne screening of the wedding, and a charity gala dinner for the International Red Cross is being held at the Langham Xintiandi hotel in Shanghai.
And here’s how to avoid it…..
‘Not the Royal Wedding’
The people behind Republic, the pressure group that campaigns for a democratic alternative to the monarchy, are using Royal Wedding day to celebrate people-power and democracy (rather than inherited privilege) by staging “Not the Royal Wedding” street parties. Camden Council refused permission for the subversive gathering in London, which led to it being hailed “the party they tried to ban” on the Republic web site.
Organiser James Gray told Channel 4 News: “”Britain’s 10 million republicans won’t be ignored, and we certainly won’t be hiding. We’re out and proud and determined to succeed!”
Britain’s 10 million republicans won’t be ignored, and we certainly won’t be hiding. James Gray
The event has been moved to Red Lion Square, near Holborn, and will be a traditional-style event with food, stalls and entertainment. Republic supporters are hoping the event will communicate a serious message; there will be opportunities to talk about why the monarchy should go, at the same time as enjoying the day off.
The Unofficial Royal Wedding on Channel 4
Treason Show
Brighton Dome is putting on a satirical alternative to the bunting-strung street parties taking place across Britain. Running for two nights from 29 April, “The Treason Show NOT the Royal Wedding Special” is for you if you’re sick of the pomp and hype of Will and Kate’s big day and would much rather laugh at, rather than with, the Royals. The people behind Treason Show have been staging satirical sketch shows for 10 years, with critics praising their “saucy acting, nudity and gleeful music”.
One of the performers, Mark Brailsford, told Channel 4 News: “The Treason Show has been running for over a decade and was made for events like this.
“After all, we are based in The People’s Republic of Brighton and Hove (actually).”
(Grime Royal Wedding: Steven Wood and Toni Amey)
Grime Royal Wedding
Birmingham grime duo, the EnR Twinz, had planned on opening their new studio in the city on the day of the big wedding. This was purely coincidental, as one half of the EnR Twinz, Reiss Parchment, 23, told Channel 4 News: “Like most the other people from our generation we could not care less about the Royal Wedding so didn’t know the date.
Like most the other people from our generation we could not care less about the Royal Wedding. EnR Twinz
“After hearing everyone going on about it we thought, as we are not changing the date of our opening, we should hold our own Grime Royal Wedding. “
The Grime Royal Wedding means Birmingham couple Steven Wood and Toni Amey, can now afford to get married. The event organisers are paying for everything from the food to an appointment at the registry office.
Groom Steven, who has never been to London, said: “Ive been watching the Royal Wedding preparations on TV and they’re spending billions, but you don’t really need a lot of money to have a great day.”
UK Uncut’s ‘Living Wake’
The UK Uncut website lists an anti-royal wedding garden party happening in Dundee on 29 April, under the slogan “No monarchs – no masters”.
This seems to be the group’s only directly anti-wedding event – the campaign group has officially said it’s not targeting the wedding. Instead, a “living wake” is taking place in Manchester, where coffins for the NHS, education, the arts, welfare and immigration will be carried in a rather gothic procession through the city.
Attendees are encouraged to dress in black. So if you would rather vent your anger about spending cuts than wear a pretty hat, then consider yourself invited.
(Below: Royal Wedding getaway? A Kate and William London travel card. Picture: Reuters)
Get as far away as possible
Plenty of people are eager to leave the country for the Royal Wedding. Travel agencies have seen increased interest in April holiday deals and Hotels.com has reported the number of people searching for holidays around 29 April is up by 212 per cent compared to the same time in 2010.
One option would be to get as far away as possible, but in these belt-tightening times that just might not be practical. Alternatively, you could pay a visit to a nearby republic.
Germany and France would be obvious choices. The Munich Spring Festival (dubbed Little Oktoberfest) begins on the 29 April and runs for two weeks. If this is still too far, an “Escape the Wedding Camp” has been organised by the Welsh cultural group Balchder Cymru (Pride of Wales) at a campsite near Machynlleth, just south of Snowdonia National Park.