A ROYAL occasion will always attract the attention and interest of the people of Jersey. The Island has, for eight centuries, enjoyed a special relationship with the Crown, has the honour of calling the monarch its Duke of Normandy, is famously loyal, and, thanks to the privileges it has been accorded, has good reason to be thankful for the institution of monarchy.

Today, however, Islanders were more likely than ever to be captivated by a royal event as Prince William and Kate Middleton exchanged marriage vows at Westminster Abbey.

This great event was, of course, a tremendous spectacle, but it will also have been one which touched the hearts not only of ardent royalists but also of all those who appreciate that, amid the pomp, ceremony and pageantry, this was a wedding of two attractive and highly agreeable young people who are very much in love.

It is true that other royal unions have captured the public’s imagination so thoroughly that they have been called everything from ‘fairytale’ to the ‘wedding of the century’ – even if the fairytales have not always had happy endings.

But, as the Prince and his bride tied the nuptial knot, there were implications for the entire future of the monarchy and for the nature of the relationship between royalty and royalty’s subjects that have been absent in previous royal marriages.

Kate Middleton is a commoner – frankly an ugly word, which is so much at odds with her charm, beauty and understated elegance. Together, she and Prince William, who is definitely no commoner but has the natural ease, sense and engaging humility to relate to people in all walks of life, have the potential to move the monarchy into a new era in which a new level of fondness and popular respect displaces mere deference.

In common with the rest of Britain, Jersey is celebrating this joyous event, which has taken place not for dynastic reasons or any other form of convenience but on the strength of an evident love match. Parties, loyal toasts and, no doubt, hours spent in front of television screens will all have been part of the day. So, too, are the Island’s very best hopes and wishes for the future of a couple who bear heavy responsibilities but who show every sign of having the grace and understanding to fulfil their duties conscientiously and with distinction.