Dear Family and Friends,
After we finished work at the Centre on Thursday afternoon we took bus number 11, sat in the upper deck, rode down the King’s Road past Victoria Station and got off at Westminster Abbey. Crowds were already large as we walked down the street. We saw people in tents and with bed rolls, waving UK flags. We talked with a Bobby who said some of the people had been there since Monday night. He said he didn’t want to know how they did their wash up. The news cameras were out in force.
Some of the people had unique posters and signs and were wearing costumes. Some were in fancy dress. You could feel the excitement.
Here’s one of my favorite people pictures:
We walked through St. James’s Park over to the Mall that was lined with flags, and down to Buckingham Palace. In the picture below we’re in the park and the palace in in the background.
The mall was the parade route and would soon be closed to traffic.
The area around the palace was beginning to be filled with people for the wedding the next day.
The Wedding Day
We were invited to join the Hyde Park Ward in Hyde Park to watch the wedding on 3 big screen TV’s and to picnic.
We took the bus with Elder and Sister Crandall up towards Hyde Park. We had to walk part of the way because the roads were starting to be closed to traffic. Harrods Department Store was decorated with flags and the window displays were incredible. One had a replica of Buckingham Palace. Many had exquisite wedding cakes.
Once we were in the park it was fun just to see the things people were wearing.
The crowd was huge. We heard later, over 300,000 people.
We even thought we saw some famous people.
We found where the Hyde Park Ward had saved some space and put down our throw. We were able to see and hear the entire wedding and parade. We had a competition on who could predict what the wedding dress would look like and I won!
Here are some pictures from the large screens:
We felt like we were in the best place to see everything and feel the excitement of the crowd. The most exciting part was when William and Kate came out of Westminster Abbey. Suddenly the air was filled with red, white and blue confetti and it kept coming down on our heads for several minutes. It was so unexpected and I don’t know how they did it.
Another highlight was the vintage WW II plane fly-over. The planes flew over the palace when the Royal family was on the balcony and then flew over Hyde Park.
What an exciting thing to be a part of! I never realized how fun it would be to participate with the British people in such an event as this. What a beautiful celebration!
Now, it’s time to come back to Earth and to missionary work!
Our best to all of you!
Love, Elder and Sister Fugal (aka Cheryl and Ken, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa)
P.S. One bit of family history- when the royal couple went into Edward the Confessor’s chapel in Westminster Abbey to sign the parish register, we immediately thought of the thousands of films in our Family History Centre. Ken said, “They need to get that on microfilm right away!”
1531 Henry VIII was recognized as head of the newly created Church of England. All ties with the Pope and the church in Rome were severed. 
1538 Thomas Cromwell ordered all parish ministers to keep records of christenings, marriages, and burials. These records became known as parish registers. In our family history Centre we have over 60,000 microfilms of these records. During the course of a day we are constantly running out to the garage where these films are kept and then returning them after the patrons finish. We have the capability to make scans and print these records. Most of our patrons come to search the films. We have parish records for Jamaica and India as well as the British Isles. Many of our patrons are from Jamaica.
1568 Some Puritans ordained their own ministers and tried to separate from the Church of England. All churches that were not Church of England were called nonconformists. The nonconformist records were kept differently from the Church of England records.We need to search in different data bases to find them. 
1642-1660 Civil War took place in England. Charles I was executed in 1649 and Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England. Civil war caused political and religious upheaval. Parish registers were poorly kept. Many other changes affected record keeping. 
1812 The George Rose Act required Church of England christening, marriage, and burial records to be kept in separate registers on preprinted forms, starting 1 January 1813. I always love it when we are scanning parish records after 1813. The preprinted forms are so much easier to read. Some of the older records are in Latin.
1837 Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began on 1 July. However, events could still be recorded in parish registers.
