Royal Wedding Invitations!
Rumor overload about Fergie and Obama snubs, not Beckhams?
[Feb. 21]
Neither President Obama nor Sarah Ferguson (a.k.a. Fergie) have yet to receive invitations to the royal wedding between commoner Kate Middleton and Prince Charles, who is second in succession to be the next King of England. Singer Victoria Beckham and sports celebrity athlete Davis Beckham have, but they have not, leaving many people asking why. There is no word coming out of Washington about the apparent snub to President Obama, though there is time left until the April 29 royal wedding.
Gather says, “It has been suggested that protection for the President of the United States [Obama] is too costly for the royal wedding. A United States President has not attended a royal wedding since 2003. The added security needs forced the royalty to leave out the Obamas.” Many other heads of state have not been invited to the royal wedding either.
Lots of other speculation surrounds the Obama, though. Snopes notes that there is a mixture of fact and fiction regarding the lack of invitation to the royal wedding for President and First Lady Obama. Among the most prevalent rumor about Obama and the royal wedding is that the Queen dislikes Michelle Obama after a meeting during which they shook hands, and a subsequent meeting in which they embraced, suggesting the Queen isn’t snubbing Mrs. Obama, but rather likes her. Snopes notes a witness to the event as saying that the exchange was “absolutely extraordinary” and that it was the first such exchange by Queen Elizabeth II in her 57 year reign.
There may be similar rumors about Sarah Ferguson’s previous inclusion in the royal family and why she won’t be attending the royal wedding, but People magazine reports that Sarah Ferguson never planned to attend or expected to be invited:
Fergie, 51, will be overseas, her representative says, though she was not anticipating being invited in any case. “She will not be attending. She never expected to be invited,” the spokesman says.
But her daughters, Princess Beatrice, 22, and Princess Eugenie, 20, are expected to attend the ceremony along with friends of the couple, dignitaries, members of other royal families and representatives from charities associated with the prince.
And CBS royal expert Victoria Arbiter pointed out that heads of state don’t have to go, since this isn’t an “official state occasion”, as noted in Associated Content by Yahoo! Nevertheless, 40 heads of state (including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, despite rumors to the contrary) have received invitations, including the King of Bahrain currently embroiled in a controversy surrounding recent bloodshed of protesters in his country. It begs the question: who exactly is England trying to impress? Maybe no one. Prince William has said that he wants the royal wedding to be a “people’s” wedding.
Despite controversy and rumor surrounding the royal wedding, if either Obama or Ferguson are upset about the supposed snub, neither has revealed as much. Presumably both President Obama and Sarah Ferguson have enough on their plates as it is. Likely the invitees do as well. If anyone is making a special deal over Obama, Ferguson, and the royal wedding, it’s the onlookers, not the dignitaries themselves.