When the world’s most famous royal couple marry on Friday, Karla Adam will be right in the thick of the momentous occasion.
The Trochu native, a reporter for the London bureau of the Washington Post, will be covering the big day when Prince William weds Catherine “Kate” Middleton at London’s Westminster Abbey. She’ll divide her time between the procession route and street parties.
“There’s a vibrant atmosphere here as London gears up for the big day,” said Adam from London where she’s lived for nearly 10 years.
Adam has witnessed the swelling of British pride on London streets. Many people have unfurled Union Jack flags outside their homes and even more have hung up Union Jack bunting. The stores are stuffed with Wills and Kate plates, mugs, cookies and tea towels.
“I’m eating Wills and Kate cookies in the office — sadly, I am not joking,” said Adam.
Tourists are walking aimlessly around, asking for directions to Buckingham Palace where workers are busy polishing statues and sprucing up the gardens, Adam said.
She’s been working flat out for some time, including taking a recent trip to Kate Middleton’s hometown of Bucklebury, a village found 90 km west of London. It’s not much bigger than Trochu, a community of just over 1,100 people. She found the residents were both “fiercely protective and fiercely proud of their hometown girl.”
Adam spoke with the pub owner of the Old Boot Inn, whom Kate invited to the wedding, and he showed her where the royal couple liked to sit. John Haley also calls the second-in-line to the British throne “William” because that’s how Kate introduced him, Adam said.
“It’s an exciting and intense time at work,” said Adam. “I’m really thrilled to be covering such a momentous event. I’m also looking forward to sleeping next week.”
Brittany Kennedy has also been caught up in the frenzy surrounding the wedding of 28-year-old Prince William, the oldest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, to 29-year-old Kate.
The 22-year-old former Red Deer resident attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland just after the couple graduated in 2006. She remembers hearing that “Will kept his life pretty normal during his university years and was an amicable guy all around.”
Both of them used to return to Scotland’s oldest university to watch polo tournaments — a favourite pastime of the royal prince while studying at St. Andrews, Kennedy said.
“Everyone loves that William first laid eyes on Kate at one of the student charity fashion shows,” said Kennedy, who modelled at a similar event at St. Andrews.
The journalist now lives in London where she works for a consumer finance website as well as an online travel magazine. In between this work, Kennedy freelances for arts reviews and does a column for the Advocate.
The atmosphere in Britain regarding the Royal wedding is mixed, said Kennedy.
“Some Londoners are desperate to get out of town as we’re expecting a huge surge in tourists,” Kennedy said via email. “There are some extremist groups who are planning to protest and cause a bit of trouble on Kate and Will’s big day too, so the Met Police Force will have a fair bit to deal with.”
Generally though, everyone is looking forward to the wedding of Britain’s “it” couple.
“The ladies are especially curious to see who got the glory of designing Kate’s dress!,” said Kennedy.
Friends of Kennedy’s are hosting a royal wedding party at their place with champagne, scones and cakes. Kennedy won’t be rushing to the streets to watch the ceremony, but added she has a natural affinity to the duo as they met in a place that is “wonderfully romantic and extremely close to my heart.”
“In the end, it’s a day off we never would have had otherwise — and a pretty good excuse for a few patriotic indulgences,” Kennedy said.
Like other Alberta royal watchers, Sylvan Lake’s Don Edgecombe and his wife Velma will awaken early to watch the princess-to-be walk down the aisle. Television coverage will begin early Friday morning on various television networks.
About a year and a half ago, Edgecombe, 84, discovered he was a distant relative of the Prince of Wales — a fact of information that makes this momentous occasion all the more exciting.
Edgecombe found out Prince William, through his mother the late Princess Diana, has the same lineage and Edgecombe has the documentation to prove it. He shows off a long list of names of the Edgecombe family and how they end up with ties to the British royal family.
Edgecombe’s royal ties to Prince William date back 15 generations.
“Both of our grandfathers many, many times back were brothers,” Edgecombe said. “This is back almost 700 years.”
Eleven years ago, Edgecombe toured Britain with his son and grandson and during that time, saw how many people were interested in knowing more about the royals. On a cold April day, they stood in a lineup that ran two blocks leading into the Windsor Castle.
“As I walked past the lineup, they were speaking French, German, Italian and other languages, so it’s an important tourist attraction,” Edgecombe said. “I think the monarchy is very important.”
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com