For a class, we were required to watch a film that depicted historical events in an entertaining way. I decided to watch a personal favorite “The Queen” starring Dame Helen Mirren. The movie depicts the life of The Queen and the Royal Family dealing with the week following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The movie uses actual footage and interviews that were on British television during that week. One piece of footage is retelling the story of the wedding between Prince Charles and then Lady Diana Spencer. In the footage the commentator says how many people viewed this as a fairytale wedding. If I were to pick an event that most resembled a fairytale, I would agree that it would be this wedding. Diana was a “commoner” when she married the heir to the throne of the United Kingdom and became Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. However, the Happily Ever After is missing from this fairytale. This story ended in adultery, divorce, and the tragic death of Princess Diana in the summer of 1997.
Thinking about this made me wonder what happened in the fairytales after the final sentence. What happened after the ride off to the castle, what happened after Happily Ever After? Is Cinderella still content with Prince Charming, or has the magic died? Is Snow White still with her prince or is she again living single in a house full of dwarves? People seem to throw around the word fairytale wedding, but never fairytale marriage. Before one goes and compares their lives, or the lives of others to fairytales, consider what happens after the magic of the fairytale ends and the reality of life begins.
I was really hoping someone would bring this up! The Royal Wedding was an international affair, and as you say, it's resemblance to a fairy tale had people from all over the world mesmerized (but particularly in the U.S., in a strange contrast to our republican roots). Why do we poke fun at England for retaining their monarchical tradition, but fall so easily under the spell of princesses and castles?
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