MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
A Very British Occasion......almost.
Mr. Howard Pearce CVO made history today by becoming the first British Governor to marry in the Falkland Islands.
Since 1841 when Richard Clement Moody, a young lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, received a commission from Queen Victoria appointing him to be the Islands first Governor, there have been numerous successors - Governor Pearce being the 32nd - but most have arrived in the Falklands complete with wives and families and none has previously married here.
It might have been a totally British occasion, especially since the Governor was wearing his full uniform, complete with spurs, gold braid and a cocked hat with white plumes but the Governor's bride, Miss Caroline Thommée, hails from Delft in Holland. Her stunning full-skirted white wedding dress contained some reference to her national colours, having a fine tracery of orange flowers with green stems. A Falkland Islands touch was supplied by the use of locally produced felt made from Falklands wool to add density and texture to the underlying silk. A short train and matching veil with a tiara of spring flowers completed an ensemble, which perfectly matched both the occasion and the season.
It has to be said, also, that the weather was more typical of the Falkland Islands spring than that of Britain, with a brisk north-westerly wind driving fluffy white clouds across a huge expanse of bright blue sky and whipping up white-topped waves in Stanley's harbour.
The Governor and Miss Thommée, who has been a frequent visitor to the Islands, met in Stanley airport, while waiting to catch a local air taxi to Carcass Island, a popular destination for lovers of wildlife. Reference was made to this and to the couple's appreciation of the natural environment by the Rev.Paul Sweeting, who conducted the service in Stanley's Anglican cathedral.
The decision of the Governor and his bride to marry in Stanley's Anglican Cathedral rather than in Europe may have inconvenienced some of their friends and relatives there but has been greeted with great enthusiasm by Falkland Islanders. As the Governor is the representative on the Islands of Her Majesty the Queen it is the nearest thing that most inhabitants will ever come to attending a Royal wedding and the couple have gone to some lengths to involve everyone, not least by inviting the whole population to a reception in the Town Hall this afternoon and the chance to share in their wedding cake.
Throughout the morning the local radio station has been relaying the good wishes of those members of the community not able to be present in Stanley for the occasion. A local cable TV provider showed live images to his subscribers and the whole service was transmitted live by the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station, which suspended its normal programme schedule for the day.
Christ Church Cathedral, once the seat of the Anglican Diocese of South America, was decorated with daffodils, many of which had been donated from local gardens for the occasion.
Outside the cathedral a large crowd gathered to follow the service through loudspeakers and to wait for a chance to applaud the obviously happy couple, who emerged finally to pass through an honour guard of members of the Falkland Islands Defence Force in their "best blues' and to make their way to the famous governor's red London taxi, lent for the occasion by the museum to whom it now belongs.
Friends and family in Europe not among the thirty or so guests of the bridal couple to make the long journey to the Falklands from Europe were able to share in the day via a specially set up web-site, relaying pictures from a number of web cams in the cathedral and elsewhere. This may well be another ‘first' among a day of ‘firsts'.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
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