QLD:William breaks Qld family's trend

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-2011
QLD:William breaks Qld family's trend

By Lisa Martin

BRISBANE, April 29 AAP - For almost a century a Queensland family had its generational
clock synchronised with the royals, but Prince William's relatively late entrance to the
marriage game has broken the trend.

Over a high tea of cucumber sandwiches and scones at the Brisbane Women's Club on Friday,
Judith Maestracci AM toasts the royal couple but laments that the 28-year-old prince did
not marry sooner.

He's inadvertently ruined a pattern spanning four generations, she says.

"We've got this really weird family connection to the royals," Mrs Maestracci says, laughing.

"My grandmother was born the same year as the Queen Mother, my mother was born the
same year as the Queen, I was born the same year as Prince Charles, and our daughter was
born the same year as Prince William.

"Our daughter is just about to give birth, so we've broken the cycle. William just
took too long to get his act together."

Mrs Maestracci, a civil celebrant who loves a good wedding, fondly remembers Princess
Diana's big day and says she'll be keenly watching the nuptials of Kate Middleton and
Prince William on Friday evening.

She caught a glimpse of the Queen as a grade one pupil in 1954 waving little flags
at Woolloongabba during the royal visit to Brisbane.

"My grandparents ... decorated their house red, white and blue, with flags up, and
it was just part of Australian culture for so long," Mrs Maestracci says.

Years later, Mrs Maestracci met Prince Charles in person at a function at Government
House during his visit to Brisbane in the late 1990s.

"We had a mad conversation about holidays and Queensland, he was so unaffected and
so lovely," she says.

During a friendly wager between the ladies at her table, Mrs Maestracci, a former tourism
executive, predicted a Daintree rainforest honeymoon for the royal newlyweds.

Renting an entire island to themselves would be another romantic option, and she recommended
tiny Wilson Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

"If they were to holiday in Queensland it would have a similar impact to the Oprah
experience," she said.

"There would be world spotlight on Queensland and what we've got to offer.

"The biggest challenge for us at the moment is to tell the world we're over the disasters
and onto the rebuild."

Meanwhile, Brisbane grandmother Hazel Fitzgerald, 86, tells AAP the wedding hype is
making her nostalgic about her own special day during World War II when she married Des
at Lawnton.

"My wedding dress was short ... I sewed it myself," she said, sitting in her wheelchair,
staring down at her unusual pearl engagement ring.

She said the key to a successful marriage is true love.

With a portrait of the Queen on the wall behind her, Mrs Fitzgerald says she remembers
Lizzie's wedding day but admits she's not actually a fan of our head of state.

"She's too stuck up," she said.

"Aren't we lucky to be Australians. When I was in the army, we used to say `Australian
born and Australian bred, Australian brains are thick in the head'."

For the younger members of the Brisbane Women's Club, decked out in racewear fascinators,
the royal wedding is just a beautiful fairy tale and a bit of light relief from disaster
stories in the media.

Hope Ferguson was in grade four when Charles and Diana married in 1981.

"I remember watching all the carriages and flags," she said.

"I didn't grow up with fairy tales or princes at all because I have lots of brothers
and boy cousins.

"That was my first experience of a real princess."

She said she looks forward to sharing this moment in history with her six-year-old
son, before he goes off to rugby.

AAP lpm/crh/mp

KEYWORD: WEDDING QLD (PIX AND VIDEO AVAILABLE)

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