You may have noticed it. A funny mixture of grandeur, informality and style. Kate’s dress, the Horse Guards, the trees in the Abbey and William’s dad’s Aston Martin with balloons and registration plate reading JU5T WED.
It was a peculiarly British celebration. Britain is a country normally averse to displays of patriotism – no national day, hardly any sporting victories to celebrate, even the Union Jack is sometimes appropriated by right wing hooligans. But Londoners do love a royal – the crowds came out in the hundreds of thousands. That’s largely because the House of Windsor represents a unique form of Britishness. The national anthem asks God to save the Queen, not Britain. The Royal Family becomes a conduit for outpourings of national pride.
Naturally, it is a contradiction. It can appear to mock notions of democracy and meritocracy that modern Britain holds dear. It represents a living fairytale even though it has little basis in reality. Then again, contradiction is something the British do especially well.
We’ve captured some of that quirky juxtaposition in a brand we recently did for London – you can find it here.
