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Watch The Wedding of The Year William and Kate Middleton

Will her act of individual piety be offensive to other religions? Of course not. As we are often reminded, we live in a land of many faiths. Perhaps Kate recognises that, rather than try to please all of them, it is better to earn their respect by sticking with one and serving it consistently.

Many will be reassured by such conventional instincts. A national hunger for certainty can be detected as a recurring theme in this wedding. Media preoccupation with a hundred incidental details seems only to emphasise the unchanging appeal of the marriage ceremony itself – the music, the prayers, the vows. It is these aspects that register more deeply than all the royal trimmings, however splendid.

This is as it should be. In an age of family breakdown, social isolation and anxiety about the future, the fact that the most modern faces in royalty submit to one of its most ancient rituals has a stabilising and comforting significance.

Let’s hope there’s more of this to come. After the excitements and upheavals that characterised Prince William’s parents’ shot at marital bliss, now is a good time to show that the next generation has learned the value of calm predictability. There is no need and no appetite for another royal round of melodramatic gestures or pseudo-radical posturing. Leave that to the politicians and the luvvies. If they look like prize prats it might harm their egos but it won’t damage our constitution.

As an alternative model, some urge royalty to recapture a lost golden age of dullness. A blurring of the line between royalty and celebrity may have prompted this suggestion but the real culprit has been some royal households’ liking for political-style news management. The unholy alliance of PR and royalty has enriched the practitioners, diminished their royal clients and left the rest of us alternately queasy and cynical. This is a chance finally to cure some palace press offices of their weakness for Blair-era spin.

Not least because our head-of-state apparatus should be above such manoeuverings. Nor do innocent royal folk need elaborate protection from mainstream British media, many of whom have made extraordinary contortions of self-censorship for fear of displeasing the Windsors.

Royal reporters are seldom cold-hearted curs, dedicated to inventing lies about their helpless royal victims. Given a regular diet of positive stories they will reliably swallow them whole. It’s only when they sniff a cover-up, hypocrisy or deceit that they can be roused to hunt gamier meat. They are not vermin to be "outfoxed", as Prince William tellingly described the tactics used to throw them off the scent of his stag party.

Handled with good manners and honesty they can be royalty’s faithful companion. Challenge them to a running skirmish, however, and don’t be surprised if they get under your feet. Or worse.

It may be painful to admit, but royal people are big customers of the media. How else can we be told how hard they’re working? I was once on a royal tour when, for a reason that seemed important at the time, the travelling press party went on strike. The dispute was settled quicker than you can say "exclusive Hello! photo-spread".

If William and Kate build a track record of low-key royal service; if they put in the hours on bleak British winter streets and at sweltering foreign aid projects; if they let their recognition of others’ good works satisfy their need for praise; and if they can smile and wave till their muscles ache… then the royal spin doctors will be redundant. If that’s dull, let’s have more of it.

While we’re at it, let’s have dullness on the domestic front, too. William and Kate have built a solid foundation for their future so we can hope for a quality of family life that’s a source of joy for them and for the country. That requires a talent not often associated with royalty – a willingness to compromise. It works best when teamed with a gift sadly beyond the reach of William’s parents: an ability to delight in each other’s successes.

Watch The Wedding of The Year William and Kate Middleton