Did the royal wedding make the world a better place?

Millions of people watched the wedding between Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle. Europe's commentators were not indifferent to the event. But while some see the royal union as a ray of hope for humanity, for others it has little to do with today's reality.

Open/close all quotes
Polityka (PL) /

Harry and Meghan fighting racism

The royal family showed at the wedding that it doesn't have a problem with the idea of having dark-skinned family members and thus sent an important message, Polityka concludes:

“The wedding of Harry and Meghan Markle has shown what huge potential the royal family has if only it makes appropriate use of its role. From today on any young woman or young man who brings a fiancée or fiancé of a different skin colour home can say to his or her parents: 'If the royal family doesn't mind then nor should you'.”

SVT Opinion (SE) /

The royal family doesn't reflect the reality

There's no reason to rejoice just because with Meghan Markle a woman of colour is now a member of the British royal family, the Swedish London-based author Minna Salami writes on the opinion page of Swedish public broadcaster, SVT Opinion:

“By that I don't mean that there is no symbolic value in there being a black member of the royal family, or that the union between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is a sort of arranged marriage. ... However, there's nothing new about seeing black people in influential positions as just a sort of adornment. It's confusing and risks diverting attention from the truly important discrimination issues. To resolve these issues - wherever we are - we must tear ourselves away from the spectacle of the royal wedding and concentrate on the real platforms for dialogue.”

Duma (BG) /

British wedding irrelevant for Bulgarians

Meghan and Harry's wedding is the last thing the media in Bulgaria should be reporting on, Duma writes angrily:

“The media has showered us with coverage of a wedding that has nothing to do with us, as if we didn't have other problems. The British have earned millions with this and are delighted, but what do we stand to gain? We should be more interested in why Merkel travelled straight to Putin after her meeting with [Bulgarian Prime Minister] Borisov, in how Macron plans to revive relations between the EU and Russia, and how the Bulgarian President Rumen Radev plans to advance our national interests in Russia with Borisov stabbing him in the back and dancing to Trump's tune while the latter plans new sanctions against Moscow. But all this doesn't interest our media. They prefer to cover weddings.”

Corriere del Ticino (CH) /

Let the people dream

Royal weddings have a magical appeal and a very useful effect on people, columnist Gerardo Morina writes in Corriere del Ticino:

“Should we snub royal weddings? That would be to underestimate their power. Because they fulfil a clear purpose - in particular the British ones, which come close to choreographic perfection. They give millions of people the opportunity to dream. They're like a magic potion, a fairytale antidote for all those who have to grit their teeth and face up to all the harsh reality and problems daily life presents them with.”