Harry and Meghan: We look back at how Islington marked the royal weddings of 1981, 1986 and 2011
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Picture: Doug Peters/Empics Entertainment - Credit: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot today. The Gazette looked through the Gazette archives to find out how Islington has celebrated previous royal weddings throughout the years.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Picture: Doug Peters/Empics Entertainment - Credit: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
July 29, 1981.
The date is immortalised on thousands, if not millions, of commemorative mugs and souvenir newspapers stowed at the backs of cupboards across Britain.
It was, of course, the day Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer got hitched.
But how did Islington mark the occasion?
A right royal party: How the Gazette covered William and Kate's wedding in 2011. Pictures: Islington Gazette archives/Tony Gay/Dieter Perry - Credit: Archant
As the Gazette reported on July 31, 1981, wellwishers painted Stonefield Street red – well, red, white and blue, anyway.
Ann Brennan, one of the organisers, explained that the party was a “spur of the moment” idea, but that certainly didn’t take away from the fun.
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More than 70 children sat down for the traditional tea with sandwiches and cakes.
Games were organised with the winners receiving a royal wedding commemorative coin and, later in the evening, everyone got together for a drink, “a knees-up and toast to Prince Charles and Lady Di”.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Picture: Doug Peters/Empics Entertainment - Credit: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
When Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got married in 1986, Islington didn’t seem as keen to celebrate, but there was still evidence of sparse street parties taking place.
The Gazette featured a picture of a four-year-old boy with his cousin, five, in fancy dress at a street party organised by residents of Northampton Park and St Paul’s Road.
“The party – with food, stalls, raffles and events – was aiming to raise £1,000 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children.” the Gazette wrote.
More recently was Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, in 2011, which saw Islington covered in patriotic colours.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Picture: Doug Peters/Empics Entertainment - Credit: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
Welsh Dame Ann Evans sang Rule Britannia at the Charles Lamb pub, in Elia Street, Islington, while a small family gathering turned into a street party down in Charteris Road, Finsbury Park.
Tracey Willoughby, who arranged a party on the New Orleans Estate, said: “Not all the children understood why we were having a party.
“But they all understood by the end.”
Veteran Gazette editor Tony Allcock, who was at the helm in 1981, said this week of the royal wedding: “It was an excuse to get communities together.”
He added: “People used to call us to come over and take their pictures.
“Everyone wanted to be in the papers!”
