Kate & Wills Approaching Nuptials: Who Still Cares??

Polls Show That Only About 6% Of Americans Have Even The Slightest Interest In Prince William & Kate Middleton's Approaching Nuptials.

Let's Not Forget That They Didn't Invite Pres. & Michelle Obama Either.

So How Many Of You Actually Give A Darn About This Extremely Expensive Privileged UK Event??

If You Are Unemployed & Still Care About Wills & Kate's Wedding Let Me Hear You Say YEAH!!

If You've Lost Your Home & Still Care About Wills And Kate's Wedding Let Me Hear You Say YEAH!!

What's That I Hear? Crickets??

I Thought So.






Royal Wedding Is Drawing a Yawn From Many Americans

How fascinated are Americans with Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s nuptials next week? According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, not very. Only 6 percent have been following news about the wedding very closely, and an additional 22 percent are following it somewhat closely.

Women are paying much more attention to the wedding than are men, particularly older women. A third of women under 40 are following news of the wedding at least somewhat closely, as are more than 4 in 10 women who are 40 or older. In comparison, half of men are not following news of the wedding at all. “It’s their British thing; it’s their custom,” Edward Rakas, 57, of Colchester, Conn., said in a follow-up interview after the poll was completed. “I guess they enjoy it, but it’s just not something I’m interested in.”

Women are also more apt to say they expect to watch the broadcast of the royal wedding next week. Older women are even more likely to schedule an early morning wake-up call for Friday.

Mary Nygaard, 67, of Washington, lived overseas for 25 years and has many British friends. Next week, she will join 27 women at a private home at 5 a.m., watch the proceedings on television and have an English breakfast (plus scones). “We’re going to wear special hats, and some of us will wear tiaras,” Mrs. Nygaard said. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

Miss Middleton has not worked in some time, but she was a buyer at a clothing store and worked at her parents’ party-supply company. American women paying any attention to the wedding are divided on whether she should seek employment after the wedding: 47 percent said it would be acceptable for her to hold a job, and 42 percent said she should concentrate on her royal responsibilities. A majority of men, though, said Miss Middleton should not work.

Denise Papcun, 38, of Pittsburgh, says that if Miss Middleton wants a job, she should get one, as long as it can be balanced with her official duties. In addition, “I hope maybe both of them follow in Diana’s footsteps and do charity work or something meaningful and it’s not just a title,” Mrs. Papcun said.

More than 13 years after her death, Prince William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, remains the most popular member of the royal family among Americans. Three-quarters of adults surveyed have a favorable opinion of her, including large majorities across age, gender, race, party affiliation and socioeconomic groups. And an overwhelming majority consider Diana’s ring to be a suitable engagement gift for Miss Middleton. Diana received the sapphire and diamond engagement ring from Prince Charles in 1981.

Americans are more divided over William’s father, Prince Charles: 38 percent have a favorable opinion of him, and 29 percent hold a negative view. There is little difference between the views of men and women or older and younger Americans.

Charles’s mother and William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 85th birthday on Thursday, is viewed favorably by 61 percent of Americans over all, but she is more popular with women and with older Americans.

William is almost as well-liked as his grandmother: 57 percent of Americans surveyed have a positive opinion of him. Men under 40 are most likely to have no opinion at all about the young prince.

Many Americans are reserving judgment about William’s future bride. Less than half, 45 percent, have a favorable opinion, and only 5 percent have an unfavorable one. The rest are undecided or have not heard enough about Miss Middleton to offer an opinion.

“I think it’s a lot of hoopla, all that pomp and stuff,” said Eric Zeff, 49, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. “They did that for Charles and Diana, and see how their marriage turned out.” (They were divorced in 1996.)

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted April 15 to April 20 with 1, 224 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.



Royal Wedding shows Diana's influence lives on


Just after announcing his engagement, Prince William told the world he had given Kate Middleton the distinctive sapphire and diamond ring belonging to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, as "my way of making sure my mother didn't miss out on today and the excitement."

The prince was particularly close to his mother, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997, and both he and his brother Harry know how much his wedding would have meant to her. William is even reported to have taken his fiancee to visit Diana's tomb at her ancestral home, Althorp House, in central England, in the run-up to the big day.

Royal experts say the second-in-line to the British throne has been closely involved in the planning of the wedding, which has other echoes of Diana.

As well as taking place at Westminster Abbey, where his mother's funeral took place, after they are married, William and Kate will ride to Buckingham Palace in the open-topped 1902 State Landau carriage that carried Prince Charles and Diana after their wedding in 1981. The Glass Coach that transported Diana to St. Paul's Cathedral will be used if the weather is wet.

And while Diana cannot be at the wedding, William seems to have taken care to invite guests of whom his mother might have approved. These include Elton John, a friend of Diana's who sang "Candle in the Wind" at her memorial service, soccer star David Beckham and Madonna's former husband Guy Ritchie.

Arthur Edwards, royal photographer for The Sun tabloid newspaper for more than 30 years, said Prince William -- like his mother before him -- wants close control of media coverage. "He wants everything his way. He didn't want anybody to break the (engagement) story, for instance," Edwards told CNN

"William wanted to do it, he explained to us on the day of the engagement. He said 'I want this marriage for life.' And it was very organized and rational, the way he was speaking, and transparent, I thought. He was just very honest."

Kate too has described her respect for Diana, to whom she is often compared, saying "obviously I would have loved to have met her and she's obviously an inspirational woman to look up to."

Representatives of many of the charities closely associated with both William and his mother, such as the homeless project Centrepoint, will also be among the 1,900 wedding guests, and Ken Wharfe, who was Diana's bodyguard, said it is this that is her chief legacy.

"We all know what Diana's feelings would be today, she'd be immensely proud of her son. But she'll be remembered for the campaigning work she did to find a cure for AIDS. She was the first member of the royal family that was actually prepared to put her name to it. In the '80s, AIDS wasn't a subject that people talked about generally.

"I remember going with Diana to many charitable soup kitchens in central London, often without the glare of the media. I went with William as well, where she was actually instructing William. I think it will be her legacy of kindness and sincerity and the fact that she captivated the hearts of the normal man or woman on the street. Such was her popularity, she knew how to communicate ... remember the royal family do communicate, but in a way that is so traditionally royal."

Christopher Anderson, author of "William and Kate," agreed, saying that while the young prince is emotionally close to his father, "William is his mother's son, certainly in affairs of the heart."

"He has a connection with people and it's because of what she consciously did to make him aware of how real people live."

William has stressed in a television interview that no one is "trying to fill my mother's shoes," and royal aides will be keen to ensure lessons have been learned from her tragic demise.

According to Catherine Ostler, former editor of society magazine Tatler, despite earlier incidents of paparazzi photographers harassing Kate -- reminiscent of their treatment of Diana -- there now seems to be greater restraint by the tabloid media.

"I think it's a deliberate decision by editors and the palace to protect her and William," Ostler said. "We've all got this specter of Diana and how horribly it went wrong and how we all know it must be unbearable pressure for a girl that age from an ordinary background to cope with this instant celebrity. So they're pacing it."

And more importantly there's a big difference between the William-Kate relationship and that of Charles and Diana.

"They are much more of an equal partnership," Ostler said. "There was always a sense from day one, even when they were engaged ... when Charles and Diana went on a trip and it was a walkabout and they split up, everyone would want to be on the Diana side of the fence. Now everybody says people don't mind if they get Kate or William because William has star quality in his own right."

William appears to have chosen a confident and beautiful woman, equal to his late mother in her prime. Now royal watchers wait in anticipation to see if Kate becomes another "People's Princess."


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Sources: Bitten & Bound, CNN, Daily Mail, Huffington Post, NY Times, Google Maps