Sandy Guadagni isn’t a guest at the Royal Wedding this weekend, but that isn’t stopping her from watching it in style.
The New Glasgow resident and hat collector is hosting a Hats On! event Saturday at 135 Provost St., New Glasgow, that will start with the live viewing of the wedding for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at 8 a.m. on a big screen television followed by fun and festivities throughout the day.
As someone who has about 70 hats in her collection, she will be wearing her favourite on Saturday, but she is also willing to lend others for people to watch the big day in style.
The day’s events will include reruns of the actual wedding, gift giveaways, including 30 cups donated by John Marshall Antiques, as well as ginger snaps and treats in honour of Prince Harry’s reddish hair. She said an official cake cutting will take place at 1:30 p.m.
Guadagni said she has been an admirer of the Royals since a young age and learned plenty from her English grandmother. She is looking forward to seeing the fashion styles of the wedding guests.
“I have been drenched in this from an early age,” she said. “I don’t know if grandma thought I would marry Prince Charles, but maybe in the back of her mind she did.”
She said she finds the younger generation of Royals inspiring, especially with their charities that focus on mental health awareness. Their work with Heads Together has Guadagni wanting to take on a similar project here that will focus on creative arts therapy. Her ideas are only in the beginning stages, but she will be using the gathering at the Hats On! event to spread the message about her initiative.
“I am going to be 70 years next birthday and I expect guiding lights to be older than me and here we have people in their early 30s who are leading us and it blows me away. I think they are people to be admired,” she said.
Everyone is welcome to attend the drop-in event and anyone wanting to borrow a hat from Guadagni can reach her at 902-755-6360.
Olive Pastor, chairman of the Central and Northeast Nova Scotia Branch of the Monarchist League, said she recently did a display in a Pictou business in honour of Royals and their recent accomplishments, including Queen Elizabeth’s 92nd birthday.
Pastor is unsure if she will be able to watch Saturday’s wedding due to a prior commitment, but she expects it to be a day when everyone is happy for Prince Harry.
“The whole thing now is what is her dress going to look like and who made the cake?” she said, joking that she wasn’t invited to the wedding, but she did have the opportunity to see Queen Elizabeth in person in the past.
Pastor said she enjoys the protocol followed by the Royals. She also credits the younger generation of Royals for keeping the public’s interest in the monarchy.
