Prominent Adults Not Ashamed to Participate in Harry Potter Festivities

Some very serious people have participated in the franchise's farewell tour

Even as the final installment of the Harry Potter film series hits theaters this weekend, there remains the slight sense that, for all the rapturous reviews and billions of dollars in revenue, the movies are for children. This is understandable, because they are about children, children who become angsty, magical teenagers. So give credit to these prominent, serious adults for enthusiastically bidding farewell to the series in public.

Anna Wintour

The Vogue editor took her niece Ellie to the film's July 7 premiere in London, crossing the channel from France, where a day earlier Nicolas Sarkozy presented her with the Legion of Honor medal. Designer Azzedine Alaïa robbed that moment of some luster when he told Business of Fashion that Sarkozy offered the honor to him first, but hopefully a young Potter fan can school Wintour in the Unforgivable Curses.

Prince Charles

The Prince of Wales, in a nutshell: during a visit to a primary school in Devon earlier this week, he passed time with the students by conversing about "how awful it was that there [are] no more Harry Potter books to come," which is what a school administrator told the Guardian. Which raises the question: Why is he talking about the books? The kids want to see the movie. Talk about the movie. 

Sens. Scott Brown, Pat Leahy, and Kristin Gillibrand

Politico's Click blog notes that all three politicians attended the film's red carpet Washington premiere earlier this week. Brown brought his wife and daughter, Gillibrand came with her son, and Leahy went with his wife. To the best of our knowledge, none of the senators wore cloaks, or applied a lightning bolt shaped scar to their foreheads. But look how happy Pat Leahy looks!

Frank Bruni

We understand why so many people seem to be taking pride in never having read the Potter books or seen the Potter movies--we did the same thing when 24 went off the air. Even New York Times columnist Frank Bruni couldn't pass up the chance to crow about his ability to resist muggles, butterbeer and a childlike sense of wonder. "I saw 10 minutes of one of the movies, and can't recall if it involved a goblet of fire, a deathly hallow or neither," he wrote. "Hogwarts was mentioned, so I'm now up to speed. It's like Exeter, but with a different kind of spelling test."