Royal Wedding: The Outfits

Yes, I'm going to talk about the royal wedding.  The outfits, no less.  I'm more interested in the men's uniforms, of course, but first a tip of the hat has to go to Princess Kate's dress, which was an obvious homage to American actress Grace Kelly, who also married into European royalty.  In another apparent homage to the United States, Kate had a Maid of Honor, which apparently isn't usually done in England.  Classy.

More interesting, of course, were the men's uniforms.  Heir Apparent Charles, Prince of Wales, wore his Royal Navy uniform.  The rank of Admiral was honorary, granted in 2006.  During his time in the Royal Navy, he actually earned the rank of Captain and commanded his own naval ship before his tour of duty ended.  He also spent some time in the Royal Air Force and earned his pilot wings, like his father before him (and both his sons after him).

Harry wore the uniform of the Blues and Royals, which is the unit he actually served with.  He was deployed as a tank commander to Afghanistan for over two months in 2007.  He's no longer with that unit; he recently earned his own pilot wings with the Royal Air Force and was promoted to captain two weeks ago.

Prince William is also an active member of the Royal Air Force, which begs the question, why didn't either brother wear the RAF dress uniform?  Their great grandfather, King George VI, wore his RAF uniform when he got married in 1923.  (He's the main character in The King's Speech.)  So why didn't William and Harry wear the RAF Full Dress uniform?  The answer: because it doesn't exist any more.  It was eliminated, except for the tropical full dress uniform, which has a white tunic.  I think that would have looked pretty snazzy on the groom, but I guess it's not appropriate unless they're getting married in the Bahamas.

Instead, William chose the dress uniform of the Irish Guards; he's been an honorary colonel for the last couple months.  Seems like a goofy choice, especially since he could have worn the Blues and Royals uniform of his brother (he also served in that unit), or the 6A Tropical Full Dress uniform of the RAF, where he actually serves now, and which would have looked really snazzy.

It makes me wonder if there was some political thinking behind his choice.  Everyone knows he's second in line to the throne, and until recently there was a lot of speculation that Elizabeth II would skip Charles altogether and appoint William as king.  We all know that the "Irish Guard" refers to Northern Ireland, but maybe William was trying to act like the future monarch of not only Great Britain, but the entire United Kingdom.

"I'm totally a colonel."

Bottom line, I thought the entire ceremony was awesome.  I'm glad Yelena dragged me out of bed at 3 am.  Nobody knows how to do it up like the British.  There's a reason they keep bringing out the old churches and complicated uniforms for special occasions: it still looks awesome.  Although I couldn't help but think that William would have looked better in a New York shell jacket:

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