Once upon a time, way back in 1980, I became enthralled with Lady Diana Spencer. She would soon become known and loved as Princess Diana of Wales. As a nine-year old I found the whole “fairy tale” to be better than anything in the world. I remember watching every minute of the wedding that fateful July day in 1981. I inhaled everything I could get my hands on about her and her boys. It would forever cement my love of all things English.
When I was less than 3 weeks away from giving birth on August 31st, 1997, I came home to the news of Princess Diana’s death. I cried the entire week leading up to her funeral. I mourned her loss as if I knew her personally. She had become so woven into my life by the news and glossies.
I became an anglophile in such a way that I wanted to become a British citizen and develop a lovely British accent. Instead, some 33 yrs later I’m still an American. No closer to my dream life in the United Kingdom, but I will make it a reality somehow, some way, some day, sigh.
Lord, I almost want to break out into song. Or not.
I still follow the lives of the British Royalty daily. I subscribe to many different blogs about them. I just can’t get enough.
I have read countless books about British Royalty and the history of Britain. I read the Daily Mail UK and Hello, both UK & Canadian versions every single day. Some of my favorite Britcoms are shown on Netflix now, I love catching up or finding new ones. And one can never go wrong with the newest version of Sherlock. Both my son & I are truly “Sherlocked”. I’d love to marry Benedict Cumberbatch and just have him read to me all day in that ridiculously lovely, posh voice of his.
I suppose as any true self-confessed anglophile I must concede to being an Austenite, except I don’t wish to dress in Regency costume or belong to a book club. I definitely have my own Mr. Darcy fantasies (Colin Firth, yes please, and dear Matthew Macfayden, I swoon too). My favorite Jane Austen book strangely enough is Persuasion, followed closely by Mansfield Park.
Since I’ve yet to cross the pond and immerse myself in the British culture, I’ll stick to shopping at World Market for my English foods. I love your chocolates, crisps, biscuits, beans, and my own version your treacle tart.
I hope to someday to see the following sites:
Big Ben
The Gherkin
Parliament House
Buckingham Palace
Windsor Castle
Hyde park
The London Eye
The Tower of London
The Millenium & London Bridge’s
The Tate Modern and about 100 other places eventually.
I guess you can call this my guilty pleasure in life. Very few people I personally know would understand my fascination. It’s about as far outside my perceived personality as you can get.
There you have it, I’ve come out of the closet as a true lover of most things English, except hot tea. And spotted dick pudding.
Not the real me 