The irresistible pull of a Windsor knot

Bill Dinon remembers being swept away by the pageantry 30 years ago when the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer drew 750 million pairs of eyes to the royal nuptials on television.

"I never anticipated I'd one day be watching the wedding of their son," said Dinon, now 52 and a museum supervisor at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. "For me, it's come full circle. I've matured a few decades, and I feel almost like I'm watching one of my own kids get married, without having to pay for it."

He'll be among the groggy Minnesotans who will wake before 5 a.m. on Friday to tune in for the wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton. They've all got their reasons: curiosity about the closely guarded wedding dress, a sense of allegiance with the middle-class Kate, or simply the massive spectacle of it all. Some will land in one of the local British pubs opening early for the festivities. Most will roll out of bed and curl up on the couch in their pajamas with a cup of tea.

Barbara Marincel of Brooklyn Park remembers being totally carried away by "the whole princess thing" back in junior high, watching Charles and Di's wedding.

"The British and their royal weddings and class system are kind of fascinating to Americans because our culture is so different," said Marincel, now 42. "I don't pay much attention to the royals the rest of the time, but I get a kick out of all the pageantry."

Knowing what we do now about Charles and Diana's unhappy marriage, said Marincel, "it's really sweet to see one of their sons so much in love."

Here in the Twin Cities, six hours behind London, not everyone is excited enough this time around to set the alarm for a pre-dawn wedding. Dinon's colleague at the History Center, young-adult audience specialist Aleah Vinick, 34, is recording the procession for a party at her St. Paul home Saturday night. Her parents, who live in London, where Vinick spent some of her teen years, have sent commemorative tea towels and English beer (Mom and Dad plan to get out of London before the hordes descend for the weekend).

"I've always loved Prince William," Vinick said. "But that family is so old-school, it'll be good to get a fresh injection of someone like Kate."

Sandy DiNanni, 71, will celebrate in style, donning a tiara and white gloves and carrying her pink Buckingham Palace tote bag to her friend Margaret Thomas' house in Minneapolis in time to watch the procession.

"Women my age can do silly things like this and get away with it," she said. "Of course, I would celebrate the opening of a manhole cover."

Hats galore, surprise in store

The fashion factor is a big draw for many wedding watchers.

"Truthfully, I just love to look at all the hats," said Marincel. "And, of course, I'm dying to see her dress. I don't want to know who made it ahead of time. That will be the big surprise of the day."

Minneapolis photographer Liz Banfield is on the same page. For her, it's more about fashion, design and culture than royalty.

"The wedding makes British design poised for even higher visibility," said Banfield, 41, who started the blog britishcrush.com, a celebration of Brit fashion, in February. She plans to spend Thursday night at the Grand Hotel in downtown Minneapolis with several girlfriends also interested in design, getting up early the next day to order room service and watch the festivities.

As to why Americans -- at least some of us -- are so enamored of momentous royal occasions, "we don't have all this pomp and circumstance, so it's fun to both be awed and poke a little fun at it," DiNanni said.

Most royal watchers agree this wedding has less of a magical fairy-tale aura than Charles' -- partly because the couple has been living together already on and off for the past eight years. But Americans have remained intrigued with British culture, the monarchy in particular.

Highbrow Yankees copied English styles of houses, ordered their best furnishings from England, even married off rich daughters to impoverished British nobility in exchange for a royal title. Younger generations may not be quite as enamored of the British or as eager to emulate them, "but they have no problem identifying with Kate," Dinon said.

"The monarchy are strange people as human beings, but the institution represents something, and seems to do so around the world," said party host Margaret Thomas. "People outside the Commonwealth won't be watching because they're crazy about the royals, but because it stands for some kind of continuity in a world that doesn't have a lot."

Partying Brit-style

A few English-influenced eateries in Minnesota will open early with live TV coverage, including the Contented Cow Pub & Wine Bar in Northfield and Brit's Pub in downtown Minneapolis. Brit's will serve a traditional English breakfast and at noon -- as soon as a legal hour tolls -- a specially made alcoholic cider dubbed "The Union" will be introduced, along with a lookalike "royal couple." Pubgoers are encouraged to dress for the occasion.

Some Minnesotans are even crossing the pond to mingle among the hundreds of thousands of Brits -- and at least 7,000 journalists -- expected to be crammed along the procession route.

Minneapolis attorney Mick Spence and his wife, Darran, will celebrate their own 17th wedding anniversary in London, where they managed to find a hotel near the parade route, "to be right in all the hubbub," he said.

David and Susan Bratt, also of Minneapolis, will join their adult daughter in London in time for the wedding, but they didn't have to worry about booking a room. They'll be picking up a motor home they own in Amsterdam and driving to a campground north of London, then taking the Tube.

DiNanni, who wished "the Queen Mother was still hanging around, so she could come to our party," sees at least one reason to be more excited about this royal wedding than the last one -- the bride.

"Kate, bless her heart, seems to have a mind of her own, and she was chosen by William, not royal leadership," she said. "He seems to have found a normal person, well almost normal; marrying into that family, the rules are too much for most people."

For party favors, DiNanni bought tiny glass slippers at the Dollar Store, which she plans to fill with jelly beans.

As for the menu, "it seems a bit early for fish and chips. Maybe tea, and crumpets. Whatever they are."

Kristin Tillotson • 612-673-7046