It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.
To visit the IWSG website, click here.
To become a member of the IWSG, click here.
Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are
Stop by their posts and thank them for hosting.
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Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.
Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.
Remember the question is optional.
This month's featured question is:
Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?
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Happy New Year, Everyone!
I was ready to change the page on 2024 for sure.
I am happy to have this bright shiny new year to move forward into.
I hope 2025 is a year of peace and happiness for us all!
I grew up in Canada in an extended family that revered the Royal Family.
If you entered a relative's home on either side of my family,
you would likely see one or more photos of members of the Royal Family.
Usually the photos included the young Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip,
and their young children Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
The Royal Family ~ 1956
I decided when I was about four that I would marry Prince Charles when I grew up.
I admired him as a real prince who lived in a real castle,
someone who had stepped out of the pages of my fairy tale books
and into modern London, Windsor, and Balmoral.
My family respected the Royal Family, and my parents, grandparents, and other relatives
honored them for their bravery during World War II and other historical events.
I remember my Grandmother MacBeath from my father's family,
and my Great Aunt Nan from my mother's family
practicing their curtsies for events the Queen was attending.
Yes, I would marry Prince Charles, become a princess,
ride a gorgeous horse, and go to garden parties and royal balls!
A mounted trooper of the Life Guards on duty at Horse Guards
London, England, United Kingdom
June 8, 2014
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
When Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981,
my parents, my brother and his wife, some of my sisters,
and I stayed up most of the night to watch the wedding ceremony.
As the couple walked down the aisle of St Paul's Cathedral,
we toasted the bride and groom with champagne over strawberries in chilled glasses.
I can still hear the Archbishop of Canterbury saying during his sermon,
“Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made—
the prince and princess on their wedding day.”
Sadly, the world soon came to know that their marriage was not the stuff of fairy tales.
Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced on August 28, 1996.
I can also still hear Princess Diana saying in an interview with Martin Bashir of the BBC,
“There were three of us in the marriage. That made it a bit crowded.”
A year and a few days later, Aug. 31, 1997, Princess Diana was dead.
I stayed up the entire night sitting on the edge of the bathtub
and staring at the tv on our bathroom counter, sobbing, unbelieving,
as the horrific and tragic events unfolded.
I Visit The Diana, the Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
London, England, United Kingdom
June1, 2014
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
I had long outgrown my girlish plans to marry Prince Charles
by the time he and I were teenagers.
As the years passed I realized there was no way I would want to live a royal life.
I love to be anonymous and free, to live my life on my terms.
I'd rather be the photographer than the photographed!
Prince William and Princess Catherine
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
September 24, 2016
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
I have followed Prince Charles and other members
of his extended family throughout their lives with interest.
As an adult, I have admired Prince Charles for many things,
beginning with his concerns about plastic pollution
and the environment in the early 1970s
and continuing with his advocacy for sustainable practices,
organic farming, and renewable energy,
not to mention his extensive charitable work
and his support of health, education, and responsible urban development.
I am well aware of the many criticisms of the Royal Family and the Monarchy,
and I'm not going there in this post.
I don't revere the Royal Family as my older relatives once did.
I don't have their photographs displayed in my home.
But there is still much that I value in the family and in the institution.
And there will always be
that little girl inside me who once planned to marry Prince Charles.
Me, Shortly After Turning Eight
Along with My Brother Roy (6) and Sister Donnie (4)
Likely Alymer, Ontario, Canada
April 1958
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
Wishing each of you a fun IWSG Day,
and a big thank you to our awesome co-hosts.
Have a healthy, happy, and creative January!
Take care!
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com
Copyright ©2025 – All rights reserved.
My next post will be January 17th 🤞
What an interesting take on the ISWG question. I have never wanted to be royalty (which is just as well). Life in their goldfish bowl strikes me as horrid. Just the same many of them do incredible good work.
ReplyDeleteHi, Sue! I agree, horrid. The longer I live, the more grateful I am that I am just a hobbit. I hope that your 2025 has started off smashingly! Hugs to you!
DeleteYou would've been as unhappy with Charles as Diana was. And yes, we watched for hours the night she died. Very tragic. Who would want a life where reporters chase you everywhere?
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, Alex; Charles and I would never have made it ~ LOL! Imagine always having to look right, speak right, and act right while being hounded by the press everywhere. I hope you and your wife are doing well and enjoying the start of 2025. Take care, my friend, and enjoy IWSG Day!
DeleteIt's interesting how your family and I'm sure others revered the royal family. I think we all have fantasies about our lives as a kid. I wouldn't want to be part of a royal family either.
ReplyDeleteLove and respect for the Royal Family was ingrained in me from the beginning, Natalie! That said, I have one sister who doesn't think much of the royals. She still refers to Diana as a "brood mare." It is interesting how different siblings can be! Happy New Year, my friend!
DeleteI grew up in that era too, Louise, when my Grandma, my aunties, my Mom -- they all maintained scrapbooks of photos of the royal family cut out of newspapers and magazines so they could be perused at their leisure. I shake my head now but that was Canada then.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that, Debra! That was Canada then. And yet, Charles III is still our king. Charles was born about a year and a half before me, so I often thought about our different lives as I lived through the decades. I have always been free to be me, and that is priceless! Hugs to you, my friend!
DeleteHey Louise!
ReplyDeleteI liked reading this post<3! Kind of relatable somewhere:)
Happy New Year!!!
Hey, Rida! I'm glad you liked my post! Good luck with your studies and keep writing! ❤️
Delete...as a Yankee, I could never understand the appeal of royalty.
ReplyDeleteI understand your position, Tom. I come from a long line of Loyalists while you likely come from revolutionists. Perspective is everything! Wishing you all the best!
DeleteMarrying a prince... Yeah, William was cute when he was younger ;-)
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for IWSG day An Author’s Goals for 2025
Yes, William was cute, Ronel! Have a fun IWSG Day!
DeleteSomewhere I have a souvenir mug from the Charles and Diana wedding which my grandmother gave me as she was in the UK during the wedding (she didn't attend, but she brought back gifts).
ReplyDeleteThat was thoughtful of your grandmother, Jeff. Like you, I have souvenirs somewhere! My books on the Royal Family have long been donated as I continue to wrestle with too much stuff. All the best to you, my friend!
DeleteI'd never want to live under that much scrutiny either. I don't have to worry about secrets in my closet.
ReplyDeleteHappy IWSG Day, Diane! I don't have secrets ~ lol. Wishing you all the best!
DeleteI love that you up and decided you would marry a real prince when you were little. Childhood is the best!
ReplyDeleteThe imagination of young kids is phenomenal, H.R. I loved teaching younger elementary kiddos during my education career. I hate how much imagination many of us lose as we get older. Happy IWSG Day!
DeleteYou chose well to give up your royal marriage plans. It looks glamorous, but as you point out, it's not. It can be quite confining or tragic to always be in the limelight. I enjoyed your post as always, so thanks for it.
ReplyDeletehttps://cleemckenziebooks.substack.com/p/short-story-wednesdayagain
Thanks, Lee! I hope you are enjoying IWSG Day! Take care!
DeleteI think my first post vanished. Drat! It was so good. :-) Anyway, I think I said something like you chose well to change your mind about marrying into royalty!
ReplyDeletehttps://cleemckenziebooks.substack.com/p/short-story-wednesdayagain
Both arrived! I know the frustration ~ lol!
DeleteI loved Lady Di. The wedding was fabulous. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
It was a fabulous wedding, Anna! I hope that your year has gotten off to a great start and that you have enjoyed IWSG Day!
DeleteI do not actively seek out news concerning the royal family. To me, their affairs bear no greater significance than the common family discord observed in everyday households.
ReplyDeleteI understand your perspective completely, Roentare. It's impossible to get through life without some family discord, no matter who you are. At least the discord I have experienced is not splashed across headlines around the world. I hope your year has gotten off to a great start!
DeleteA dream to marry the Prince. Nice memory.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nicole! I laugh now, but I was very serious about it when I was a little girl. All the best to you!
DeleteYou would have been a wonderful princess, but that life? I don't know how anyone can stand it. Charles would have been lucky to have you, though. I have never forgotten the morning I turned on the news and saw the words Death Of A Princess and knew Diana was gone. I was heartbroken. She embodied kindness and did so much to try to change attitudes toward AIDS patients and to draw attention to the horrors of land mines. You've written about her beautifully here.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Thank you so much, Janie! I really admired Princess Diana for her compassion for AIDS patients. She reached out to them, touched them, comforted them when others were shunning them. I was wildly upset with Prince Charles in the days following her death; but I realized, well I had known it for years, that he had been trapped by the system too. I've actually come to admire Camilla, and I'm happy to see that prince I was once sure I'd marry happy with his wife. All the best to you, Janie!
Delete