Yup, I am a Royalist and proud of it! As a child I remember looking through the pages of a book seeing pictures of gems and jewels as Princess Elizabeth became our Queen. I remember at the age of 16 getting up in the middle of the night with my sister LaurieAnne to watch a young women, Di becoming a Princess as she married her Prince Charming Charles. I remember little William & Harry being introduced to us and watching them grow into incredible giving and admirable young men. We ALL remember that tragic night when we were all told " The People's Princess" was no longer with us. We lost a special person that night but most of all our hearts went out to the boys. William & Harry had lost what was most precious to them, their mommy.
So many memories and April 29th was no exception, a new uplifting memory;The Royal Wedding of Catherine (Kate) Middleton to William Wales, our young Prince. Everyone would have loved to have been there in front of Buckingham Palace watching for a glimpse of the newly weds, everyone including me... however that was not in the cards for me this time.... Sooo I had read that Oprah ( who I love) was holding a Royal Wedding Celebration in her studios the day of the Wedding. I wrote into her telling her staff of my many memories and being Canadian in the Commonwealth with memories of singing God save the Queen as a child in school.I pushed send and sent my response off to never never land thinking I would never hear anything back... I got a response! They emailed me back inviting me to the special events in Chicago, April 29th, the day of the wedding. Everyone was to dress up as IF they were actually going to the wedding. I was thrilled, after all this was the second best thing to going to the wedding for me and this would be one of Oprahs last shows. Living near St Louis we were now only 6hrs from Chicago so this was perfect~
April 29th we got off to a very early morning, after all this was the "Royal Wedding" day, I could hardly sleep all night.. I was like a little kid, soo excited- 3:45am wake up call came VERY early. I was ready and eager to get moving I turned the television on.. what was Kate to wear? What was William feeling on this day? What about Harry? Wish their mom was able to be there.. all these thoughts went through my mind. When the two boys came out all dressed in their Military Dress I became very emotional, they were all grown up.. how proud their mom would have been.
When Kate came out dressed much like Grace Kelly many years ago,she took my breath away, so stunning and elegant, but then again simple, loved it. I also loved the way they decorated the church with trees and small amounts of flowers, keeping it simple again, very classy and yet somehow down to earth. I laughed as Harry glanced back as Kate entered the church, knudging William and saying (through lip readers) "wait until you see her". The smiles throughout the ceremony, the glances, you could feel the love and excitement of spending their lives together radiated between this young couple. The bells rang out and we all let out a Hoorah! This was a happy day, the Royal couple was now wed. Now off to Oprah!
We were to arrive by 7am and line up at the side of the building. As we arrived everyone was truly dressed to the hilt, in their brightly coloured dresses, stunning hats and incredibly fascinating fascnators on their heads. The men did not let down either, in their tuxes, tails and top hats. We all came out to celebrate this very special event, two events actually, one the Royal Wedding and two just being at OPRAH..... After going through security we anxiously made our way upstairs to the waiting room. This is a place of constant chatter, everyone was sooo excited, we talked about the wedding, the dresses, the hats, what was Oprah going to do with this show? There was certainly a buzz in the air.....
This show was LIVE in Chicago that morning and we went into the studio at 815am. After getting seated we waited patiently for Oprah to present herself. She came out right before the show began and greeted everyone, she was in awe, "Wow, Look at all of you- you actually look like you are going to the wedding, thank you thank you thank you she said...." the show began.... She did a few satellite interviews, bringing out Kates favorite English candy to all of us, crumpets with butter and jelly, they were truly a well oiled machine, everything came out fast and was cleaned up fast all within the few minutes of commercials. Next we were given samples of Williams favorite cake, yum yum, but very very rich.... we were all on a sugar high, the room vibrated. Oprah chatted up guests on the break, she is just like you think she is, friendly, and down to earth, everyone wanted to give her a hug, but of course no go.....signs were set up, no gifts, cards or messages for Oprah were excepted. Later in the show we were all given a replica of Kates ring, wow, it is BIG and I have to say lovely. Everyone put on their rings and felt like Princesses for the day! The hour went by like "that" I could have stayed there all day just watching, our adventure was coming to a close. After the show ended I would have thought Oprah would be whisked off but she stayed and chatting for another 10- 15 minutes, everyone trying to get her attention. After the show we were asked if we would be interested in taping a short message for Oprahs new network, we were thrilled- yes, yes yes! On my bucket list I have many things but two of them were to go to Oprah show- been lucky have gone to two now and to thank Oprah for having such an impact on my life- this was my chance! The taping took a while, you know television hurry up and wait.. lunch was provided and this gave us the opportunity to chat with others who were also leaving messages. We met people from Sudbury, from New York, from Chicago so many travelled from all over. We sat beside a couple who grew up in England but had been living in Toronto for 15years, they were there celebrating too. The taping involved a bunch of questions, ie tell us how Oprah has impacted your life? If you were to describe the Oprah show give us three words? If Oprah was here in front of you what would you say? What will Oprahs last show be? We finished taping and headed to the Oprah store.
Our day ended toasting William, Kate AND Oprah- what a day full of many memories and adventures~
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