Protocol and all that jazz

Embed from Getty Images

There has been a great kerfuffle about how the foreign royals were seated during the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.   A lot of moaning about protocol not being observed, royals being insulted, blah blah blah. 

The Lord Chamberlain's office knew exactly what it was doing in terms of seating the foreign royals.   (Only a small group of people were able to take part in free seating, but this was in the back area of the abbey.)

This wedding was not a state occasion.  Prince William is second in line to the throne.  He is not the Sovereign nor the Heir Apparent.  He has no constitutional role.  The Protocol that applied at the Prince of Wales' wedding was not applicable in this situation.   The only heads of state who were invited were fellow Sovereigns and the Commonwealth countries where the Head of State is not Queen Elizabeth II.  

Members of the Royal Family and other important guests were given an Order of Service, but not also a Ceremonial program.  The Ceremonial program is larger and usually white with black ink.  The Ceremonial Program includes a time table for arrivals and departures. I have the Orders of Service and Ceremonial programs for the weddings of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.  These were sent to me after each of the weddings by a guest. 

I did not see a single person, including the Queen, holding two programs.  (There are photographs of the Queen holding a Ceremonial program at one of the other weddings. )   The Order of Service and the Ceremonial programs are also used at state funerals, and major state events.

Members of the foreign royal families, reigning and non-reigning, were placed together.  At a state occasion,  there would have been a formal procession of the members of reigning royal families.  At this wedding,  all of the foreign royals gathered at Buckingham Palace to catch the bus to the Abbey.  Due to this not being a state occasion, the foreign royals were shown to their seats without a formal procession.

Thus, in a word, formal protocol would not have been observed at the Duke of Cambridge's wedding because he is not the Sovereign nor the Heir, nor was the wedding declared a State occasion.