Thursday 17 March 2011

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING....ER.... REDHEADED?


"The fairy-tale romantic union of all the centuries. 29th April 2011”, may be exaggerating the importance of THE wedding that we are all being bombarded with, but that is how Guandong Enterprises advertises their commemorative “Made in China Royal Wedding Souvenir” mug.

The company's website says that it is : "A beautiful cup to commemorate the most beautiful occasion. Crafted in the finest bone china, it features an exquisite design of the happy couple with ornate gold detailing to honour this great moment in history. Please be our guests to own this esteemed, limited edition heirloom to celebrate with your work associates, friends, family and loved ones."

Ye gads... and that was produced in a Communist state!

But from what I can see, it’s more a fairy story than a fairy tale, because the pictures on the mug are Kate Middleton and Harry Wales.

Now I realise that there is a certain amount of passing around of suitable breeding stock in the upper crust of English society. Indeed when the prince that May of Teck came to Britain to marry in the early part of the 20th century, died, she was simply allocated the next one down. Either they were determined to have her as queen, or she was determined to be queen, no matter what!

But I can’t help but wonder if Kate just looked at Willie’s balding pate and though to herself that, although when she chummed up with him at first he seemed to have a lot of his mother’s looks, as time goes on he looks less and less like her and more and more like his father. And that has to be bad news. However Harry looks nothing at all like any of the Windsors!! As such he would probably be a far better bet.

Or maybe it just that, when it comes to westerners, we all look the same to them...

Pics: (1) The ‘offending’ mug, which is now of course worth a great deal more than the ticket price!! (2) Before and (3) after. Kate’s not getting all that she signed up for in the hair department. (4) He looks more like his father every day...and he seems to like a drink like his Auntie Margaret!. (5) His father back in the day. It’s just as well he had "the books", for he sure didn't have "the looks"!

7 comments:

  1. Loads of hilarity around this subject starting with the cancellation of commemorative tat that had the usual entwined initials as that spelled “WC”. I was looking forward to getting a plate and putting it on the toilet door! Now Princess Kate’s mum and dad have decided to cash in on their daughter’s wedding by launching scratch cards with a royal theme on their party goods website, surely nothing can be more tacky than this naked attempt to exploit their royal connection. What they gonna do for an encore when she becomes Queen? Queen Kate party poppers?


    Kate should have married William five years ago when he was still reasonably good looking but as time goes on he looks more and more like old big ears. So one day she is going to wake up and find herself sleeping with a plug ugly balding Windsor who is still not thirty five. Just as well that palace has so many rooms, once has done her duty for merry England and St George she can move into the west wing and look for a rugby international to keep her amused. The fact that Harry shows no sign of going down the same route suggests that paternity tests will not be the order of the day at the palace any time soon or Harry would be on the other side of the bed sheets waving the baton sinister!

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  2. Yes Munguin. The royal scratch cards are the tackiest thing I've ever heard of. And what with the WC thing and this silly mug (which will end up being worth a fortune) the whole thing is going down the pan big time (if you'll pardon the pun).

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  3. Tris: As you suggest, whoever was lucky enough to get one of the Harry and Kate souvenir cups surely has a valuable collector's item. Since Americans are not allowed by our constitution to have aristocracy or royalty, we have to make do with an attachment for yours. So there is a market for the royal souvenirs here in the states. Sadly, I didn't have the foresight to snatch up any of the current wedding souvenirs. But in my family, there is a collection of cups and saucers, which does include some royal items.

    Last time I saw them, we had cups and saucers for Charles and Diana's wedding, William's birth, and the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. But I noticed that we also have a commemorative cup and saucer for the Coronation of H.M. Edward VIII on "12th May, 1937."

    I'm now reliably informed that His Majesty did not show up for his own crowning, and ran away with an American divorcee instead. So I assume that our coronation souvenir is, like Harry and Kate's cup, of immense monetary value on the collectible market.

    Please advise how much money I might expect to receive from a sale. It would be convenient to market the item and become fabulously wealthy as soon as possible. Payment in Dollars, Pounds, or of course Guineas accepted. ;-)

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  4. PS: I see that the coronation of George VI was carried out on the date that had been set for the coronation of Edward VIII. No doubt the abbey had been booked, and there would have been a cancellation fee.

    And that DID maintain the correct date on the already issued coronation souvenirs. So any chance that Harry may in fact now marry Kate to avoid causing embarrassment to the Chinese manufacturers of the cups and saucers?

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  5. There's nothing new in the world Danny. I'll give you €5 (no guineas, sorry) for the cup (but you have to pay post and packing). How's that?

    Actually I've no idea what these thing would be worth, as I don't have any (not surprisingly). I imagine that in these days they would all have been made in Stoke-on-Trent (the potteries), and have been high quality. Now they are being mass produced in the land where EVERYTHING is mass produced, and are hanging in rows at supermarkets at around £4.50 a shout.

    LOL! The Abbey was booked and the Archbishop had it in his diary, so that was that. The cancellation fee would have had to be paid by Queen Mary, and she was as tight as .....Well, she was very tight. And she was already cross that her eldest son (well, the eldest remaining son) had decided to become Mr Wallis Simpson.

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  6. LOL I love your paragraph about May of Teck... I did find it odd that when one died, she just magically fell in love with the next available one!

    Now, is James Hewitt the father of dishy Harry? He's just so much better looking than Wee Willie...

    And as a friend said to Lady Di before the wedding: "too late to pull out now - it's your face on the tea towels".

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  7. Yes Mister TMG. That was indeed a corker, even by royal standards. Well...she'd come a long way, learned to speak English passibly... It was going to be a bit of a pain if she had to go back and learn Spanish or Norwegian!

    I can't say I see anything of Hewitt in Harry's face. I haven't a clue who his dad is, but it's almost certainly not Big Ears. All the Windsors are plug ugly...even Andrew, whose provinence is dubious. What must it be like to be the only member of your family whose looks don't turn milk sour!!!

    LOL..good line about Diana. Have you seen all the crap they are selling with WC on it?

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