Whenever there is a major world news story—from the rescue of trapped miners in Chile to a Pacific tsunami—the Louisville news media has striven to provide a local angle. Naturally, the engagement of Prince William and his longtime companion Kate Middleton earlier this week is no exception.
Although it still has not been confirmed whether Kate’s mother, Carole, ever came through Louisville International Airport during her career as a flight attendant, the connections are startling. The family of the social-climbing princess-in-waiting, the Middletons—commoners all—hails from the ancestral homeland of Middletown, Ky. (It is a widely held misconception that the Louisville Highlands’ Windsor Place has a connection with the Royals; in fact, in 1917 George V, William’s great-grandfather, took the name from Windsor Castle, thus establishing the House of Windsor—not a house on Windsor.)
The newly betrothed couple met as college students at St. Andrews in Scotland—a country that has an area known as the Highlands. Louisville, too, has a St. Andrews—located in a neighborhood called, coincidentally, the Highlands. Whether the university in Scotland or the Episcopal church in Louisville had the name first has yet to be determined.
The Prince and Princess will live in London, England. While Kentucky also has a London (the county seat of Laurel County, in fact), the English one is significant from a local standpoint in that it is the city where Louisville.com editor Zach Everson almost proposed to his wife.
In 1981, Wills’ parents, Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, married at St. Paul’s in London. Louisville has not one but three churches with that name. There is also a nursing home in Louisville known as Westminster Terrace—Westminster Cathedral being a possible alternative should the couple choose to avoid the possibly jinxed site of the last lavish royal wedding. Just saying.
Speaking of Prince Charles, there is a Charlestown nearby, which, like the Prince of Wales, is largely overlooked as the town is actually in Indiana. The Prince isn’t very interesting, either.
Of course, not everyone is enthralled with the man and woman who one day will be King and Queen of Great Britain. There is a movement afoot to divest completely from any trappings of the monarchy, even in the United States—even in Kentucky. The leader of this uprising, of course, is none other than Tea Party darling Rand Paul. Interestingly, a revolt of the same name happened in 1773—against Great Britain. However, to our knowledge, no Kentuckians were involved in the event—except for the Pauls. Who, everyone knows, are not really from here.
The staff of Louisville.com wishes the couple many happy years.
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