The Windsors still fascinate - Royals only power is in celebrity

The constitutional arrangements of the UK ought to please or trouble only the British; nobody in Ireland questions the architecture of government our neighbours choose, just as they keep their opinions to themselves when looking over the wall at our design.

What cannot be ignored, though, is the level of worldwide interest the Windsors — uniquely among Western Europe’s remaining monarchies — command. Saturday’s royal wedding was watched on television by millions internationally. That’s not bad for an event that had nothing to do with sport and everything to do with a family — and an institution — that has not a shred, in the real world, of political power or significance.

That Prince Harry — also to be known now not only as the duke of Sussex, but also baron of Kilkeel — is on the way to becoming a junior royal, a mere sixth in the line of succession, makes the potency of the fascination with the Windsors an even more intriguing puzzle.

Why is the world so gripped by its stories? The dazzling, fairytale weddings; the (mostly unhappy) marriages; the births; the nightmare divorces; and the heartbreaking tragedies? They are quotidian family stories, and the very stuff of television soap operas and so-called reality shows.

Perhaps it should be no surprise at all that Harry has married a woman whose celebrity status springs from her starring role in a Hollywood soap opera, or that their wedding guest list included a celebrity-rich mix of American media royalty and their British cousins: Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Serena Williams, the Clooneys, and the Beckhams.

Perhaps it’s fair to ask if Saturday’s ceremony completed the gradual make-over of the Windsors, now completely re-branded as a mere show business operation, and if this is what our neighbours in Britain want? Do they stick with it because, like their Australian cousins, they can’t envisage a better alternative, fearing a presidential contest between Richard Branson and Harry Styles?

But, of course, it’s none of our business.