Why I give two hoots about the royal wedding

As Prince William and the impossibly glossy Kate Middleton announced their engagement this week, I found myself experiencing a flash of excitement. I'm not alone, I know - the media instantly pounced on the story as if it were an offering from the Gods; this many days later they're still feasting on it. Most of the 'ordinary' people I've spoken to couldn't care less. Especially here in Cornwall. The monarchy and Westminster government aren't exactly high on the Christmas card lists of many Cornish people; significantly less so since the 'Devonwall' fiasco reared its ugly head.

"What does it matter to me?", comes the unrelenting reply to my statement of royal-wedding-excitement. In truth, a royal wedding carries no real importance to anyone, and seems a shameless display of wealth in a period of hardship. The media muses upon how the celebrations might reflect this 'age of austerity', in the same breath as debating which designer dressmaker may be awarded the honour of outfitting the Royal Middleton.

But I do seem to care about the wedding, the engagement, the ring (ahh), the hope of a wonderfully sculpting white gown. In the face of all logic, and a certain amount of incredulity, I think that this may be one of the most exciting things this year. And the reason why is that in this aforementioned age of austerity, the coupling (not literally, of course) of a prince and his future princess has an appealing fairytale air about it.

It's not every day that a person the press are determined to brand 'a commoner' finds her prince - literally - and settles down to the life she's always dreamed of. Yes, it'll be hard and I don't envy Kate Middleton her life within the patriarchal royal family. But in spite of that, the couple seem genuinely in love and have waited eight years to make sure that they're making the right decision.

It's very easy to be pessimistic in life, and ordinarily I favour this pessimism. However, just for once I shall be entering fully into the spirit of optimism and imagining Their Royal Highnesses departing in their horse-drawn carriage, straight into a fairytale sunset.

One thing though - I draw the line at the celebratory china.