Prince William, announced his long-awaited engagement to Kate Middleton.
The event is to be held in spring or summer next year - exactly 30 years since his father Prince Charles married Diana in a ceremony watched by 750 million people worldwide.
1981 was a difficult year for Great Britain.
In the grip of inflation, the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher took an axe to public spending. A recession followed and the poor and out-of-work took to the streets in deprived areas such as Liverpool's Toxteth estate and Brixton in London.
The Royal Wedding was a focal point, a distraction, an excuse to use the word 'fairytale' in news copy. The British nation stopped and watched, and for a little while a tiny bit of the magic rubbed off on everyone.
What a fortunate coincidence that, after an eight-year relationship, William and Kate have decided to wed now.
The British government last month announced 81 billion pounds worth of cuts to public spending in a bid to kick-start an economy bruised and battered by the global financial crisis. Unemployment is currently at 7.7 per cent with some warning public service cuts will send it higher. Last week thousands of students took to the streets in a protest that ended in violence.
Could this be the event which lifts the British psyche out of its deep depression?
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