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William I, II, III, and IV, and Kate and William V-to-Be

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On the day I am writing this, the mother of our son-in-law-to-be arose in the wee hours of this morning to watch the royal marriage of Kate and William V-to-Be, live.

Being an Anglophile, but also being a "Get-Plenty-of-Sleep-o-Phile," I watched a re-run of the nuptial ceremony at mid-morning, with my wife.

Since our youngest daughter is about the same age as William and Kate, and our family and her fiance's family are thinking about their wedding in October, we thought we might pick up a few pointers, along with bringing English history up-to-date.

What we did learn along the line of wedding pointers is my wife, as mother of the bride, will not dress in all yellow, including hat, like Queen Elizabeth did. Nor will she wear the type of hats worn by two of the young princesses.

Also, we can rule out serving $60,000 worth of Champagne. Oh, and I don't think well be booking Westminster Abbey for the ceremony, and my daughter won't be wearing the royal tiara.

Well, that's about it as far as wedding pointers are concerned. Besides, my daughter and her lb-Be have everything just about all planned.So, 111 just concentrate on English history and this recent update.

For now, William and Kate will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. However, in the future, when William is crowned King, he will be known as William V.

Four Williams have preceded him -- William I, William II, William III, and William IV.

None of the other Williams was married

in Westminster Abbey, but William I was crowned King in the Abbey on Christmas Day. In fact, as far as my historical sleuthing can determine, there was only one other royal married in Westminster, and that was Queen Victoria's granddaughter.

Out of the five (counting the current William V-to Be) English kings named William, the current Duke of Cambridge had the most exciting and promising wedding.

William I, the first Norman king, and known as William the Conqueror, was married at to Matilda of Flanders in 1053.

They were married in the Notre Dame Chapel of Eu Castle in Normandy. Although William's bloodline went back to those Germanic tribes on the Island of England, and she was a descendant of Alfred the Great, they seemed extremely "French."

Legend has it she refused him when he first proposed, perhaps because she was his cousin.

Their marriage happened before Henry VIII established the Church of England, and the Pope excommunicated them for marrying as cousins. They spent part of their fives doing penance for their marriage.

Probably would not be in competition for "Wedding of the Year."

William II, the third son of William I, never did marry, so he could be scratched from our list. He had very blond hair and a very reddish complexion, which was the reason he was known as William "Rufus." Enough said about him.

The third William was known as William III of England and William II of Scotland, and in Ireland he was known as "King Billy."

He married his first cousin, Mary Stuart, on November 4,1677. Eventually he and his wife ruled together, and history remembers them as "William and Mary." While their marriage turned out to be a surprisingly good one, the wedding itself was not. William was not physically attractive at all, with a hunched over body and a large nose; and he was somewhat sickly

It was an arranged marriage, and apparently Mary saw him for the first time in her life at the wedding. Several historians described the wedding as dismal, partly because the bride wept throughout the ceremony (apparently, as far as I can tell, because her groom was so physically ugly).

William IV, uncle of Queen Victoria, and his bride, would not stir the imagination in terms of having an exciting wedding. According to historians, William IV lived with his mistress for 20 years and had 10 illegitimate children.

However, at age 50, he married Adelaide of Saxe-Meinigeren (who was half his age).

It seems to me the wedding between the Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton will go down in English history as one of the most exciting, most beautiful and, in spite of all the usual royal trappings, the most simple of the royal weddings.

Ray Spitzenberger serves as pastor of St.

Paul Lutheran Church in Wallis, after retiring from Wharton County Junior College, where he taught English and speech and served as chairman of Communications and Fine Arts for many years.



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© 2011 East Bernard Express East Bernard, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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