The Fairy Tale Begins Now..

The stardust and fawning accompanying the royal wedding may have settled now, after eleven days. The glamour, clamour and curiosity around the wedding have abated, and the marriage has just begun. Going down the memory lane, the fairy tale wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in July 1981 was also the talk and toast of the world! In spite of no internet or globalisation that one sees today, that was still an event that caught the attention and touched the hearts of millions. Wedding traditions, no matter which culture they belong to, have the impact of casting a special charm, spreading hope and goodness to those participating and witnessing it. For almost every newly married couple, rich or poor, royalty or commoners, rural or urban across the world, the lovely wedding makes them presume they will 'live happily ever after.'

As a schoolgirl, back then, I remember soaking in every detail of the royal wedding of Charles and Diana, seeing pictures of the beautiful bride and prince in the coach waving to the crowds, and their gestures and actions. A few years later, while visiting and staying in the UK for a few months with my aunt and uncle, the 'royal wedding fever' was still on! Memorabilia like mugs and caps with the royal couple on it were commonplace in tourist shops, just as the paparazzi didn't miss an opportunity to 'hunt' the royal couple out wherever they went, on a vacation or charity show, keeping the public engaged with juicy titbits and sensational revelations. As the patina around the wedding wore off over the years, the marriage went sour, they separated, and some years later, a tragic accident took Diana away. The beautiful princess and charming prince did not live 'happily ever after' and their fairy tale had a tragic end. More recently, the wedding of Kate and Prince Williams was received with much the same adulation.

Springing back to the present, the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markel is different in many ways, though it followed the traditions of British Royalty. Meghan — a successful Hollywood actress, whose parents separated at a young age — is bi-racial, a divorcee and is older to the prince. She apparently met the prince on a blind date. These facts reflect the culture and spirit of current times. She has now become a part of royalty, catapulted to astral heights of international fame with the royal court of arms too! This marriage would also mean a lot of adjustments on the part of both, especially Meghan. She has given up acting, relocated to England, as she undergoes a six-month-training to conform to the 'prim-and-proper' customs of the Royal family.

These adjustments may seem more pronounced and visible in this case, but is, perhaps, the case in most marriages. Even if the place and nature of work remain the same, the changes and adjustments needed to keep the marriage going certainly need attention and reverence — a seeiingly must-do to live happily ever after, which is the ultimate goal of almost every human life on the planet, for almost any relationship. 

Notwithstanding the similarities or differences in our upbringing, colour, culture, beliefs, language, likes and dislikes, for the new fairy tale of 'living happily after' to happen, a lot of efforts are surely needed.

Efforts of adjusting, sharing, caring, giving in, saying sorry, forgiving, being patient, letting go, appreciating are needed to make life and living together an uplifting contact metamorphosis. As the Bible says, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." May all live happily ever after!