Kate and William

Image copyright Mail Online

Will they ever be known by any other names? Certainly, they are now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but somehow Duchess sounds far too stuffy for Kate.

I watched the Royal Wedding and I must say I have hopes for this marriage. When William’s parents married we were travelling to the South of France and listening to the coverage on the car radio. I remember saying to Barry, ‘I wonder if she’ll turn up’ – there must have been something about the relationship between Diana Spencer and Prince Charles that could be seen to ring not quite true. They had similar privileged, very aristocratic backgrounds but Diana was young and shy and not very sure of herself. She was not Charles’ first choice. He should really have married Camilla when he first had the opportunity, in his youth. She had many of the right credentials, being the great-granddaughter of Alice Keppel, a mistress of Edward VII, but got fed up waiting for him and married Andrew Parker-Bowles.

By contrast, Kate and William come from very different families. She is a true commoner, he a prince of the blood royal. They met at university, on common ground, met, fell in love and lived together while they completed their degrees. They even split up for a while afterwards but eventually rekindled their relationship. I wonder how hard William had to fight to have the Royal family accept his choice of bride. I think they should be most impressed.

On their journey in the state Landau from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, William saluted to honour the fallen, notably at the Cenotaph, and as he did so his bride bowed her head humbly – very nicely done. She is graceful and charming and brings a welcome shot of fresh DNA to the royal bloodlines.

I hope my expectations and those of many of my fellow Brits will not be dashed and that this marriage will be a long and happy one.