We should all get set for a royal party

Global headlines: there's more to come

These are austere times, but the media is off to a flying start in cranking up expectations for a big royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The couple announced their engagement today, in case you missed it.

The announcement has rightly led the national news bulletins, and was also heavily trailed in regional media outlets (including BBC Points West, the Bournemouth Echo, the Plymouth Herald, and countless others). On Twitter, William, Kate and #royalwedding are trending tonight. It would be rude not to throw in a blog post about this story too.

Apart from the media’s keenness to draw constant parallels between Kate and Diana, this story underlines that some events still have the power to resonate at every level, and allow everyone to ‘be part of it’ (even if some would rather not be).

It presents an opportunity for housing providers, local authorities and others to bring communities together on the back of what will be a significant day for the nation.

This won’t be top of many organisations’ list of priorities, given the pressures on resources and the need not to appear ‘wasteful’. But this shouldn’t be about costly or grand gestures; an offer to support local activities that will be planned would be a good start. They should also beware the risk of appearing ‘out of touch’ with the spirit of celebration, which will reach crescendo levels ahead of the big day.

One thought on “We should all get set for a royal party

Comments are closed.