AL ROKER reporting:
Now to the
COUNTDOWN TO THE ROYAL WEDDING
. With just eight days to go, palace officials say
Kate Middleton
's parents have now met
Queen Elizabeth
. Here to tell us more about their meetings and to discuss the expectations of
Kate
and her family are
Suzanne Zuckerman
, staff writer for
People magazine
, and Dr.
Gail Saltz
, a psychiatrist and TODAY contributor. Good to see you guys.
Dr. GAIL SALTZ (Today Contributor):
Good morning.
Ms. SUZANNE ZUCKERMAN (Staff Writer, People Magazine):
Good to see you.
ROKER:
OK, first of all,
Suzanne
, what do you know about this lunch between the
Middletons
and
Queen Elizabeth
and
Prince Philip
?
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
We do know that the
Middletons
,
Kate
's parents, were invited to
Windsor Castle
where they met the queen and
Prince Philip
officially
for the first time
. We're told that it was a warm atmosphere and that they met not only the queen and her husband but the household staff...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
...who have been helping their daughter plan her very grand wedding.
ROKER:
Now I got to imagine it's tough enough to meet the in-laws the first time,
Gail
, but when your -- the grandparents are the queen of
England
and the...
Dr. SALTZ:
Yes.
ROKER:
...
Prince Philip
, that's got to be kind of pressure-packed.
Dr. SALTZ:
Extremely. I would say that's exponential pressure.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
Mostly because, you know, when you're giving your child away, as they say, you want to know that you're still holding on to them and that there's sort of going to be a
level playing field
, you'll still be able to have holidays, you'll still, you know, they'll still come to you.
ROKER:
But how do you have a
level playing field
?
Dr. SALTZ:
And I
was going to say there's no
level playing field
here.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
So they're probably, you know, they're very nervous, probably, about whether they'll get to do things, too, or, you know, they'll still hold on to her whether she'll be subsumed into this
royal family
.
ROKER:
It is unusual, you know, before the wedding for the prospective in-laws and grandparent in-laws to have just first met only a day -- days right before the wedding?
Dr. SALTZ:
It is unusual.
And I
would say it's really not optimal. That day is so stressful, so exciting, there are so many other things that you're worried about that you don't really want that to be the first meeting. So meeting before is definitely a good thing. More meeting even farther ahead of time would be a better thing...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
...to develop a little bit of a relationship before the
big day
.
ROKER:
Suzanne
, did your folks have any idea why the meeting took place this close to the wedding?
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
Well, the queen did issue sort of an official
royal warrant
approving the marriage of
Kate
and
William
today, so it could have been a matter of protocol. What we also do know is that
Charles
and
Camilla
,
William
's parents, have met the
Middletons
in the past.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
This was just, you know, a royal occasion. So it's just one more indication...
ROKER:
So the in-laws have already met before this.
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
Yes, the in-laws have met.
ROKER:
The grandparent-in-laws hadn't quite met.
Dr. SALTZ:
And maybe grandparents don't -- you know, you don't necessarily meet all the extended family.
ROKER:
Sure. That might scare you off.
Dr. SALTZ:
That's some of the torture of your wedding, exactly. So...
ROKER:
Now neither
Kate
nor
Prince William
were at the -- at this lunch. Good idea?
Dr. SALTZ:
You know, the one thing that actually the couple can do in being present is contain awkwardness, so if there's going to be discomfort, you know, in the getting along, they can do the kicking under the table, they can go, 'Oh, let's change subjects,' they know the players and hopefully they've talked about it, in fact I would coach that...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
...you know, don't -- my -- you know, my grandmother doesn't drink, don't say, 'Hey, we have to have a toast.' So those kinds of things, they can contain that. So it's easier if they're there...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
...I would say. But if royal protocol says they're not to be there, then obviously they're learning to deal with a lot of these kinds of rules and formalities...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
...and this is going to be a part of their lives.
ROKER:
Suzanne
, what do we know about
Kate
's shopping spree?
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
Oh, well, we know -- we know some great stuff, which is that she bought a lot of tropical items yesterday.
ROKER:
Ah.
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
A lot of summery floaty dresses, which indicates a potentially tropical honeymoon.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
Dun, dun, dun, dah.
ROKER:
Wow.
Dr. SALTZ:
OK.
ROKER:
What...
Dr. SALTZ:
Well, that is a lovely kind of romantic typical...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
...honeymoon actually to do something, you know, warm and where you wear less clothes, to be honest.
ROKER:
There you go. Now look, obviously we haven't talked -- you haven't talked with them or anything, but do you -- from what you've seen, do you think
Kate
is making a graceful transition as she becomes the princess-in-waiting?
Dr. SALTZ:
Well, from what we see, it looks like that. But let me say that, as we often do on this show, you can
never judge a book by its cover
, so we don't know the kind of stress she's feeling. I think that all brides feel stress, they all feel a little ambivalence, 'Is this -- I'm nervous about undertaking this step and all that it means.' If you're not only becoming a wife but you're becoming a princess and all that that means,
I can only imagine
the kind of stress that that would create. So I hope that a lot of people are coaching her, I hope that she has a lot of people to talk to about her feelings about this...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. SALTZ:
...I think that would be helpful. And hopefully he's just in her corner, you know, guiding her, because this is how he's grown up.
ROKER:
All right. Well, Dr.
Gail Saltz
,
Suzanne Zuckerman
,
thank you so much
.
Ms. ZUCKERMAN:
Thank you.
ROKER:
And of course, starting tomorrow, we begin our royal coverage.
Natalie Morales
will be reporting from
London
,
Meredith
's there on Monday and later in the week we invade jolly
old England
. We'll join them all. And then of course we got complete coverage of the wedding starting at
4 AM
a week from tomorrow live in
London
in eight days,
Eastern
1 -- at 8 -- I should say at 8:00 in
London
in eight days -- Eastern
1 AM
Pacific time
. I left something out there. Meanwhile, up next,
Time magazine
revealing who made their list of the
100 most influential people
. Then later on, party planner to the stars Mr.
Colin Cowie
shows you how to throw a fantastic
Easter
brunch. But first, these messages.
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