Localizing the royal wedding, San Francisco style
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- They used to say the sun never sets on the British Empire, even on a foggy day in San Francisco. But that's not exactly accurate anymore.
"You have the Commonwealth, now," said Andrew Whittaker, the British Consul General in San Francisco. We paid him a visit for inside scoops on the biggest royal wedding since the last royal wedding. On May 19 Prince Harry marries a California commoner, Meghan Markle. Do not send gifts, we learned. They have a list of charities.
"So no coffee pots?" we asked.
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"They're OK on coffee pots for now," said the Consul General.
"How about china? Do they need china?"
"They have enough."
"Margarita glasses?"
"I just received a tea towel so I am excited about that," said Whittaker as he tried to change the subject.
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Speaking of tea, we found plenty of it at the Crown and Crumpet Tea Salon, home of a singularly British experience in Japantown. Amy Denebein Dean owns the place. She made the wedding and accoutrements sound like a new millennium fairy tale. "Meghan is mixed race, gets along with the family, will shake them up. And the uniforms and outfits and tiaras are pretty and sparkly, and who doesn't like glitter -- the diamond variety?"
We found no shortage of diamonds in San Francisco City Hall. No, it isn't quite St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. But none of the people getting hitched here seemed to mind.
"We were worried about our wedding," said April Gutierrez, who just tied the knot with Martin.
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A wedding here runs $174 for the license plus an officiant like Kevin Clark. He's not quite the Archbishop of Canterbury, but every bride we saw did feel like a princess.
"Would you prefer the archbishop of Canterbury?" we asked Martin.
"If I was in England."
"Will you be tuning in to the wedding live at 2 a.m.?"
"I'll watch the re-run, yeah."
Check out all our coverage of the royal wedding.
