Royal Weddings

by Brand, Emily

• ISBN13: 9780747810933
• ISBN10: 0747810931
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-22
• Publisher: Shire Publications

Summary

With the impending nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton this spring, Shire Publications offers Royal Weddings, the perfect primer on Britain#x19;s rich nigh-millennial history of kingly couplings and the ideal accompaniment to the aforementioned must-see event of the twenty-first century. Royal Weddings traces the evolution of matrimonial majesty from the politically charged, relatively austere, private affairs which dominate much of English history, to the grandiose extravaganza of Prince Charles#x19;s and Diana#x19;s union in 1981. Over time, British royal weddings have become the standard by which all other wedding ceremonies are compared. The book abounds with eye-opening details and interesting stories, such as how King Henry VIII#x19;s marital vows-#x1C;&to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, #x19;til death do us part- have been paradigmatic ever since; or the touching account of the 15th century monarch, Edward IV, who was a rare champion of love but had to keep his marriage to a poor soldier#x19;s widow a secret. Even with nearly a thousand years of British royalty to cover, author Emily Bond deftly keeps from wallowing in a mire of historical pedantry, rather cherry-picking minute morsels of fascinating facts and anecdotes, and presenting her discoveries in an inquisitive tone; engaging the readers with her discoveries in the excited way of someone chatting to their co-workers at the company water fountain. Her account of the 1625 wedding of King Charles I-for which the monarch wasn#x19;t even present, instead supplying a surrogate for the lavish affair held at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris-reads as if she herself was present at the scurrilous event. Royal Weddings is The Knot meets People magazine with a British Royalty bent; a sleek 56 pages, generously enhanced with 60 full-color pieces of rare art and photos that go beyond traditional wedding pictures and add to the guilty, yet informative, pleasure of the book. There are examples of elaborate decorations, feasts and wedding cakes; ornate jewelry, commemorate medallions and other unique items; wedding dresses and evolving fashions; marriage certificates, announcements, menu cards and other ephemera; even the nullification document of King Henry VIII#x19;s short-lived marriage to Anne of Cleves, who Henry believed was misrepresented in the picture he was shown of her before agreeing to the coupling.

Author Biography

Emily Brand is a writer and historian with a special interest in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century England. She has written widely on domestic and family life for a number of history and genealogy magazines and is also an author for the history society London Historians, of which she is an honorary member.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 4
The Normans to the Tudors	p. 10
Popery and Lampoonery	p. 20
The Nineteenth Century	p. 30
The 'Democratic' Wedding	p. 38
The Modern Marriage	p. 46
Conclussion	p. 53
Places to Visit	p. 55
Index	p. 56
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