With Cardiff hosting over 50 royal wedding street parties to celebrate the marriage of Prince William, the team at the Glamorgan Archives have discovered that Cardiff communities have a long history of hosting street parties.
The ‘party to end all parties’ was held in Cardiff for the Coming of Age of the 3rd Marquess of Bute in September 1868. He was one of the wealthiest men in Britain, and Cardiff pulled out all the stops to celebrate in style. The Illustrated London News reported on the event, describing streets filled with triumphal arches, flags and swags of floral displays.
Thousands of well wishers descended on the town to line the streets, bells were rung, guns were fired and there was an impressive fireworks display to entertain the crowds together with a choir of 15,000 men, women and children. The reporter was, however, rather disapproving of some of the more ‘unusual’ celebrations, particularly the goat who had been trained to pick out the letters B U T E from an alphabet scattered on the floor!
Two and a half thousand working men and women of Cardiff sat down to a banquet on tables set out in the open air. In the evening 600 of the gentry attended a dinner and grand ball. And in places such as Llantrisant and Aberdare the event was marked with bonfires on the mountains and treats for the children.
There had been a more restrained response to the marriage of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863. Captain Oliver Jones of Fonmon Castle, a Royal Naval officer on board the ship The Shannon, received very strict instructions on how the ship was to mark occasion. The Shannon was to fly the English and Danish ensigns, make a Royal Salute at 12 noon and blue lights were to illuminate the ship at 9pm.
School log books held at Glamorgan Archives record celebration of jubilees, royal visits and weddings. On Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in June 1897 local schools were given a week off. At Bute Town National School in Cardiff each scholar was given a Jubilee Medal and three new pennies.
Heather Mountjoy Archivists from Glamorgan archives said: “The records certainly show that Cardiff knows how to host a party. We would really like people to get in touch with images of their street parties they are hosting to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The images would be used to show future generations how we celebrated the Royal Wedding of our future king.”
Anyone wishing to send photos of their royal wedding street parties should contact Glamorgan Archives, Clos Parc Morgannwg, Leckwith, Cardiff, CF11 8AW, Tel. (029) 2087 2200, email: [email protected], website: www.glamro.gov.uk
