Saturday, March 17, 2012

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Kate wearing a green dress for St. Patrick's Day

Her brown hat, not black as most
stylists would chose, is a
perfect match for the dark
green dress


I've always liked Kate. She seems quiet, smart and has adjusted remarkably well to royal life, unlike her sad mother-in-law Diana and her aunt Sarah. Perhaps she learned from their sad mistakes. I've got a few blog posts I've meaning to do on her, and her modest but elegant style, which I'll get to.

Above, she's celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the Aldershot Barracks with the Irish Guards. Here's more on her visit:
For St. Patrick's Day 2012, Catherine visited the Aldershot Barracks in Aldershot, England, where she presented shamrocks to 40 members of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards during the St. Patrick's Day parade. The regiment was formed in 1900 by Queen Victoria, to honor the Irish soldiers who served in the British army during the second Boer War in South Africa.
Here in Toronto, there was emerald green everywhere today, although the official parade took place last Sunday. It was a rather cloudy day, so the green could be seen from a distance, peppering the streets. What a refreshing gathering of people, who are having a good time, and remembering a good thing. Let's not forget that this is all for St. Patrick, as one girl reminded me when I wished her group "Happy Irish..." "St. Patrick's Day!" we both finished at the same time.

I overheard some guy say that the Irish Embassy will be pretty busy tonight. I suspect he means with drinking Irish. I was going to reply to his stereotypical remark (he looked Anglo-Canadian to me, with the strict, no-nonsense demeanor, since clearly he was unable to join in the mini festivity), but I left him alone.

Toronto hosts the largest "gay pride" parade in North America, where half naked men and women prance around the streets, rerouting traffic and unsuspecting pedestrians away from the main streets. And the Caribbean Carnival, where there is at least one gun shot, if not murder, every year, brings in thousands of tourists from the Caribbean. The city foots a portion of the bills for both these events. These parades take over the several blocks of streets, and fill the television and newspaper news for days.

The official St. Patrick's Day parade was last Sunday, and was hardly noticeable. There were no dramatic stories other than a few green-haired jumping leprechauns. It is organized by the The St. Patrick's Parade Society of Toronto, and if you look at their sponsors, not one is a government agency.

A footloose leprechaun on Yonge Street
An early start last Sunday