Flawed - by design

Celebrating the Royal Wedding
The Royal Wedding was celebrated in style ... far beyond the shores of the United Kingdom. We here had a celebration for the Royal Bride and Groom in Accra! A friend hosted a sumptuous English breakfast adorned with all the elaboration of stylishly and vibrantly dressed Accra ladies sporting pearls, Swarovski crystals and fascinators – all as the ladies watched The Big Event live over a huge screen.

I regretably had to turn down my invitation. Knocked out by malaria most of throughout last week, I had to do with watching the wedding online. Yes, online!

We had ‘enjoyed’ torrential rains overnight (what sweet relief from all that sweltering heat we had suffered throughout Thursday) and, as often happens here, the electricity power went off as a result of the thunder storms and lightening. And yes, you guessed it, it did NOT come back in time for me to watch the wedding live courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. I had to resort to my internet connection, and when the battery ran out on my laptop, well, I had to start using my imagination for the rest of the service...!

Time and chance
But what really struck me was the element of destiny throughout the whole celebration of love that commenced when the Royal Engagement was announced. The level and intensity of goodwill for the now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been immense as it has been heart warming. And I do very much feel that much of that goodwill perhaps has transcended from the deep love that the British public and many others globally endeared for Diana, Princess of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge’s mother.

Not that Diana herself was the happiest woman alive when she was with us. We all know too well of her apparent misery in marriage. We do also of course know of her clear and unquestionable compassion. Her compassion for the less fortunate, and her desire for her children to be deliberately exposed to some of the realities of the society around them.

Undoubtedly this did not win her any brownie points amongst the Royal household at the time, but carry-on she did. I am persuaded that it was this her convictions that has so shaped the character and person of her two sons. Two Royals and young men who are equally compassionate and peculiarly hardworking (the BBC reported that the Duke of Cambridge will return to work this week). Royals wanting to connect to ordinary people – and look how popular it has made them! The Duke of Cambridge has certainly warmed opinions towards the Monarchy.

Genealogies and destiny
Much of course has been made of the ‘common’ genealogy of Kate Middleton. She is of course now the Duchess of Cambridge.

And I smile as I write for destiny awaits all of us. Diana, Princess of Wales’s was perhaps to awaken the British Monarchy of the need to be more at home with the British people – even in her death! I remember that last day in August in 1997 when she died. If my memory serves me right The Queen was in Balmoral when the news came and she remained there until the loud and resounding voice of the British public persuaded her to return to Buckingham Palace. As tributes and flowers flooded Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, the public again loudly expressed their desire and need for her and the rest of the immediate Royal Family to come out of the Palace to acknowledge them and their tributes. And this she did.

Destiny awaits all of us. Destiny awaits us in our convictions and character which blesses some and infuriates others; in our struggles which spur us; as well as our struggles which steer us into uncommon destinations.