Obamas Meet William, Kate

The Windsors are pretty wacky, says Christopher Hitchens

(NEWSER) - For those salivating over every bit of cake or gown drivel that oozes out of the royal wedding, Christopher Hitchens is here to rain on your parade. The "constitutional absurdity" (ie, monarchy) is getting ready to claim its latest victim, he writes in Slate, and Kate Middleton had best consider the spectacularly dysfunctional family she's marrying into:

• Queen Elizabeth: Praised for her "stoicism and a certain integrity," she really "refused to allow her younger sister Margaret to marry the man she loved and had chosen, and she let her authoritarian husband have charge of the education of her eldest son." Both to "gruesome" results.

Annual Trooping the Colour ceremony salutes official birthday

(NEWSER) - Another British occasion, another display of crazy hats: London today rolled out the redcoats and bear-skin hats to fete Queen Elizabeth's 85th birthday—even though it's not her 85th birthday. The annual Trooping the Color ceremony, which dates from 1748, is held on a Saturday in June, when the weather is ostensibly better than the queen's real birthday, April 21. Catherine, the royal clan's newest duchess, nevertheless warded off the chill with a tartan blanket, notes the AP, whilst Prince William rode in the parade in the same Irish Guards uniform in which he married her. More»

Prez screws up toast to queen, Michelle dares to go bare (gasp)

(NEWSER) - President Obama just can’t catch a break in London. After screwing up the date in the Westminster Abbey guest book yesterday, Politico reports that he miscued while toasting Queen Elizabeth at last night’s Buckingham Palace state dinner. The orchestra, apparently believing he was finished with his remarks, started playing “God Save the Queen”—right in the middle of Obama’s toast. He kept speaking, right over the British national anthem, and the AP reports that he later joked to the deputy prime minister that the orchestra had simply provided a soundtrack to his words. More»

Prince talks about Queen Elizabeth in new interview

(NEWSER) - When Prince William first started planning his wedding to Kate Middleton, he was handed the original guest list, with 777 names on it—"not one person I knew or Catherine knew," he reveals in an ITV1 documentary about Queen Elizabeth airing next month. He took the list to his grandmother and asked what to do. Her response: "Get rid of it. Start from your friends and then we’ll add those we need to in due course. It’s your day." More»

Prince William, Kate Middleton not warmly received by Amir Khadir

(NEWSER) - Suffice it to say Quebec legislator Amir Khadir is not happy about the upcoming royal visit. Khadir, leader of a small left-wing party, said yesterday that taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for Prince William’s planned summer visit with his new wife, the Duchess of Cambridge. Khadir, a self-described separatist, compared the British royal family to "parasites" in a tabloid interview, the AP reports, and the Quebec government has since demanded an apology. More»