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On 18 May, 30-year-old Amy Hall, a mother and housewife from Suffolk, is undergoing an operation - but she has a major 24-hour recovery deadline. She has a royal wedding to attend, or at least to spectate at, the next day. As a long-standing fan of the royal family – an interest that has passed down through three generations – nothing will stop her from securing a key spot from which to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get married on 19 May.

Her doctor has advised her not to drive, so she’s enlisted her husband to act as chauffeur. She’ll travel to Windsor hours after the operation before spending the night in the Berkshire market town. At 5am, she has already booked a taxi to take her to a prime position near Windsor Castle where she’ll wait until the procession begins at noon.

“My husband thinks I should cancel, but actually I’ll just be standing and sitting anyway,” says Hall. “I can’t miss it; it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It would be great to see everyone walk into the church, then see Meghan and Harry afterwards. Even if I’m unlucky and I don’t get to see them, the atmosphere is just amazing.”

Hall’s commitment to the royal wedding might raise eyebrows among many, but she’s certainly not the only one who has been swept up in the hype surrounding the nuptials. It's been estimated that the royal wedding will boost the British economy by £500 million as tourists descend on the country to celebrate - and it looks as if the numbers are already tallying up. Online travel agent Opodo reports a 33 per cent rise in travellers flying to London on 17, 18 and 19 May 2018, compared to the same dates last year.

Airbnb expects 42,000 visitors to London over that weekend. It’s not just cities such as the capital or Windsor that are seeing a tourism surge either – the neighbouring town of Slough, an unlikely hotspot, has seen an increase of 1438% in guest arrivals on Airbnb when compared to the same period last year.

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day in April 2011

Rightly or wrongly, the couple’s forthcoming nuptials are receiving serious media airtime; it’s rare for the royal wedding not to make a daily appearance onto the news pages of nearly every leading UK paper at the moment. Among fashion circles, the subject of Markle’s wedding dress – who it will be designed by and what it will look like – has become a popular subject to speculate over. TV viewership for the event is expected to exceed the 23 million who tuned in for Prince William’s wedding to the then-Kate Middleton in 2011. As a luxury editorial website, our own traffic peaks when we talk about Meghan Markle and Harry. Facebook posts that feature the couple perform up to seven times better on our page than regular posts.

So what is it about the royal wedding that gets us so excited? Even the most apathetic among us are probably guilty of having clicked on a story about what Meghan might wear or where Harry went on his stag do. In terms of what fuels the hype, it isn’t a clear-cut issue, but having interviewed numerous experts – from royal biographers to psychologists - it comes to down to the following five points.

1. ESCAPISM

It might come as a surprise to some, but part of the reason we’re so interested in this wedding is the same reason so many were obsessed with reality TV show Love Island last year – we want a slice of optimistic, easy-to-digest escapism. Today's news doesn't make for easy reading, so anything that breaks up the fearful headlines is a welcome distraction.

“Historically, we’ve always been obsessed with the royal family – they are the longest running real-life soap opera,” says royal biographer Andrew Morton, who wrote the best-selling Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words. He’s most recently penned a book called Meghan: A Hollywood Princess.

“But just look at today’s news – the world is more unstable than it has been in generations. We have the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump, roaming around like Godzilla; Putin jabbing away; and we don’t know what will happen post Brexit and how many jobs will be lost. The royal wedding offers a nice piece of respite. It’s sweet and joyful. All weddings do; if you see a wedding happening in a local church you might stop and take it in - they symbolise hope, optimism and new life.”

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Jo Hemmings, a behavioural psychologist who specialises in celebrity analysis and media, agrees. She says that the royal family have “elements of soap opera escapism” yet with added class and style.

“In an increasingly uncertain and divided world, it is old fashioned escapism,” she comments, adding that Markle and Harry’s relationship plays up to bygone romantic narratives that have long become ingrained within us. “It’s the stuff of fairy tales and with social media and an ever more public presence we can watch and enjoy the anticipation and the celebration.”

2. LIKE IT OR NOT, THE ROYALS ARE A PART OF OUR CULTURAL DNA

We invest in royal weddings because they play a part in our national identity and who we are as a country. If you’re anti-establishment, then obviously this won’t ring true but it’s an undeniable fact that the notion of royalty has been stitched into the fabric of our psyches since we were children up until adulthood.

“It’s embedded in our culture; as children we read stories about kings, queens, princes and princesses,” says Peter Hunt, who worked as the BBC’s royal correspondent for 14 years before joining the NHS as director of communications and engagement for Barking, Havering and Redbridge in 2017. “People dress up as princes and princesses. In education, we talk about our history and we talk about kings and queens, whether the Tudors or Stuarts. It is there all the way through our education as children – it’s part of the backdrop of our existence.”

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Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles on their wedding day in July 1981

“Still bound by protocol, tradition and ceremony, royal weddings are really important to our sense of national pride,” adds Hemmings. “We want them to be perfect weddings, perfect matches and perfect marriages. We invest much more in them and seeing our royal family flourish and thrive, than in any celebrity wedding.”

3. IT’S A PARTY WE’RE ALL INVITED TO

For some, the royal family are no different to celebrities whose existence is funded by the taxpayer, and yet the attention surrounding their weddings is a lot higher than even that of the biggest Hollywood stars. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West could only dream of the limelight Markle and Harry will receive on 19 May.

Morton believes that the difference lies in how accessible royal weddings are. Whereas a celebrity wedding is a private affair, a royal wedding is a public event of epic proportions that everyone has an invite to, even if they didn’t manage a seat at Westminster Abbey or at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

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Crowds gather in Trafalgar Square for the wedding of William and Kate in 2011

“The monarchy is a symbol of the nation and a royal wedding is a national party,” explains Morton. “Everyone feels that they’re invited. Celebrity weddings are private affairs, where royal weddings are public affairs.”

And even celebrities can’t compete with the level of pomp and ceremony that comes as part of a royal wedding. Few can boast gold gilded carriages, military processions nor flyovers.

“From the public perspective, it’s a spectacle,” says Peter Hunt. “We all like weddings and this this is a wedding with significant brass bells on. It’s played out for us all. Through the power of television, we have a front row seat in a way we don’t many other high-profile weddings. Everyone will have memories of growing up and watching a wedding like this - whether at a garden party or just sitting in front of the television. It is available to all of us.”

Amy Hall, who will spend hours outside Windsor Castle on the big day, supports this idea entirely – the theatre of these occasions is everything.

“You get to look at the dress, what the groom wears, the procession, the carriage… everything that goes into it,” she explains. “They put on such a great show and it’s something you won’t see for such a long time again. We’ve been very lucky with Kate and William and Harry and Meghan. With Eugenie, it probably won’t even be televised.”

4. THE DIANA EFFECT

Diana, Princess of Wales, may have died 20 years ago, but to many her memory lives on through her sons, which is a key factor that fuels such interest in their lives. The strong connection people had with 'the people's princess' has been passed down to her sons. Hunt describes the Diana link as a “crucial element” in understanding the hype around William and Harry.

“For a large swathe of our population, seared in their memory is that image of these two young kids walking behind the coffin of their mother,” he recalls. “Maybe because I was there – I did that job – [I know that] that image of the wreath on top of the coffin that read the word ‘Mummy’ written by Harry is in many of our psyches, so we feel we have that connection to them. We all know the connection people felt they had to Diana and that has now moved onto her sons.”

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With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that so many are intrigued by the lives led by Diana’s sons and who they marry; William and Harry finding love is a positive way of drawing a close on a tragedy. Her sons' weddings, for some, could symbolise the happy ending that eluded their mother.

“I think that would certainly be the hope of their most dedicated fans,” said Hunt. “People who were traumatised by her death will no doubt be heartened by the life William is now leading with Kate and the future that Harry hopes to have with Meghan.”

For Hall, her fervent interest in the royals stems back to Diana. She sees the late princess’ work continued through her sons, particularly in Harry.

“She was one of us really, but she married into the royal family so it feels quite personal to people,” she says. “She was the queen that we lost. The whole country mourned the loss of Diana and her sons are a massive part of her. They’re keeping her legacy alive as such; they’re mirroring her work. That’s probably why there’s a bigger deal out of their weddings. Harry is so much like his mum. He seems genuine, he gives one-liners to the media like Diana and he mirrors the charity work she used to do.”

5. THE MEGHAN FACTOR

While royal weddings always draw hype – certainly the country was swept up by Catherine and William's in 2011 – there is a sense that next month’s nuptials have received heightened interest, with Markle playing a key role. The former Suits actress is new ground for the royal family in numerous ways – an American, divorced, bi-racial actress who is joining the firm at a later age than most royals (she is 36).

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“A British prince, sixth in line to the throne, marrying a divorced, mixed-race American TV star? Any of these factors would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, yet it’s actually happening,” said Hemmings. “In the rapid modernisation of the royal family, this is the boldest and most radical step yet. Not just a ‘commoner’, Meghan is an American divorcee and an actress. Mixed race, older than Harry, with an unsettled family background, she is completely different to any other royal bride, in the history of royal brides.”

Morton agrees: “There wouldn’t have been the same interest if he was marrying a nice girl from the home counties. The fact that she’s an American actress means there are echoes to Grace Kelly, but as a divorcee there’s the Wallis Simpson comparison. Thirty-three Americans have married European royalty, but Meghan transcends the lot because she’s marrying into the house of Windsor – the premier royal family.”

For Hunt, Markle’s heritage is the most significant factor – her father is white and her mother is black. Of course, this shouldn’t be worth noting, but in terms of British royalty it’s history-making.

“It’s worth standing back and restating – the British family will now have, at its heart, at its future, a British woman who isn’t white,” said Hunt. “That imagery and what it says to people in the UK is a powerful, potent and positive development.”

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Unlike other princesses and duchesses, Markle – as a woman in her mid-thirties – had a life before marrying her prince. We knew from her (now deleted) social-media accounts that she is a politically engaged philanthropist who has used her voice to fight for issues she believed in. As Harry’s fiancé, she recently voiced her support for the Me Too movement. Markle will be our first ever woke princess.

While this seems appropriate given that we are no longer in the Victorian age, Hunt questions whether or not this will be an issue within the traditional confines of the royal family. The firm have never treated women who refuse to conform to its rigid norms too kindly.

“I think there would be an element - deep, deep down - of mild concern. How will she cope? That is a massive question,” he says. “It’ll be a concern front and centre for Harry; how does she cope with this institution and the public expectation of her? She’s an independent woman with opinions. How does a woman with opinions function within the royal family? She is a self-confessed, self-advertised feminist. How does that work in an institution like the royal family? Her comments on Me Too, how many more times can she say that once she is a duchess?”

DON'T FORGET... THE ROYAL FAMILY LOVES A ROYAL WEDDING AS MUCH AS WE DO

Royal weddings are marketing tools. The royal family needs us to be captivated by its weddings, because it needs to look relevant. As the monarchy's power dwindles, royal nuptials serve an important purpose in reviving interest both domestically and internationally.

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The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on their wedding day in 1947

“The royal wedding is a very important day for the royals. That can’t be overlooked,” says Hunt. “If you step back from it, the Palace of Windsor’s powers have been stripped back over centuries, so for it to survive it has to be noticed. That is the curdle of its challenge – it needs coverage, but it balks at some of the coverage. But they need to be noticed and they would wither if they didn’t, so from their perspective, moments like this wedding, are really crucial. It reinvigorates them, it makes them look fresh, it generates worldwide interest and the very act of them marrying and the prospect of children… Royal weddings provide a promise for the institution for a sustainable future for decades to come.”

No pressure, Harry and Meghan. None at all.

The best royal wedding memorabilia
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