So the wedding of my little girl to Andy Bancroft Cooke went off without a hitch, a wonderful ceremony in a beautiful Catholic church off Manchester Square, and even the weather played ball and gave us the most perfect spring day imaginable, cloudless and cool. Green Park was at its most glorious as we drank outdoors on the long terrace and lunched in Spencer House, which pulled out all the stops.
It’s hard to believe but as I was leaving the church, having performed my duties as father of the bride, a Speccie reader approached me and asked if I had walked her down or had been walked down by her. Obviously a loyal reader and one much appreciated. What touched me besides the obvious was Father Colven, who is the rector of St James’s Spanish Place. He spoke about doubt in such an intelligent manner that everyone who had listened would have connected with his message. If only there were more people like Father Colven, insightful and warm and understanding. Marriage, which is not my strong point, is not the conjugal prison that ‘cool’ know-nothing poseurs depict it to be. Nor is it a romantic netherworld far removed from everyday life.
The rules of social monogamy exist for all-important reasons. Marriage attaches a child’s parents to each other and in turn attaches the couple to the child. Unmarried couples do not stick around when the going gets tough. Once either parent takes off, the child invariably gets into drugs, booze and delinquency. In Japan, where there are very few divorces, there is no crime to speak of. In Britain and North America, where everyone divorces, one-parent children are far more likely to end up as criminals (in the US, 70 per cent of African Americans are born outside marriage).
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