Highlights from the royal wedding

Most of those who watched it -- including even the most arch of anti-monarchists -- agreed on one thing after the Royal Wedding: no one does pomp and pageantry quite like the British. But after the dresses were put aside, the liveried horses stabled and the last guests waved off from Buckingham Palace, few could agree what the marriage of Prince William, likely future king, to "commoner" Kate Middleton meant for Britain.

There were those who read into the crowds of supporters in London and thousands of street parties nationwide a reinvigoration of the monarchy -- even of Britishness. "One over-riding thought watching this magnificent occasion: The British Monarchy is BACK," was the view of chat show host Piers Morgan, who now works for CNN in the United States. Britain has had a constitutional monarchy since the eighteenth century, although rule by kings and queens stretches back many more centuries. But for all those who talked about the feel-good factor and pointed to viewing figures that showed some 25 million people in Britain -- nearly half the population -- tuned in to watch, countless others lined up to slam the cost and saw much in the day to support a deeply pessimistic view of Britain. "On the day of the wedding, this country is undergoing a profound identity crisis," was the headline to Laurie Penny's blog in left-of-centre New Statesmen in which she highlighted a number of arrests made around the wedding, including some pre-emptive arrests made before any protests had taken place. "So this is England, on the 29th of April, 2011," Penny wrote. "The marriage of the heir to an archaic and largely powerless royal dynasty is celebrated with pomp and circumstance, whilst dissent of any kind is suppressed on the smallest pretext, or none." If Friday's nuptials were neither a shot in the arm for the royal family nor their death knell, then perhaps the day will go down in history as simply a finely orchestrated wedding celebrated and watched avidly around the world. That much can be seen in the official photos and videos on this page released by Clarence House, the royal press office, for those who just can't get enough of last Friday's pageantry. If you missed the wedding vows, here’s the official clip from The Royal Channel: If you have one hour to spare, watch the entire royal wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey here. Finally, get a glimpse of the happy couple riding off in style from the Buckingham Palace in the Aston Martin borrowed from Prince Charles: - with a report from Reuters, GMA News