To the dismay of republicans, the British monarchy has a knack for reinventing itself, often just in the nick of time. The importance of Kate Middleton's background, the plainness of it, cannot be underestimated for the benefit it brings to a royal family still often accused of being in some kind of exclusive social time warp. Not since the future James II married Anne Hyde has there been a consort from such an ordinary background — and even Anne was from what used to be called the gentry. Recently there have been a few attempts to find for Kate more august ancestors-the possibility that she might be Henry VIII's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter was floated in the Spectator, and roundly ignored. For this is neither the point, nor the strength, of Kate Middleton. It is the fact that her parents are prosperous due to their own efforts — not fallen gentlefolk, nor "county" in the old-fashioned sense, but people who started up a company which went on to be very successful, and who produced a daughter who went on to university like countless others from similar backgrounds. 

Some commentators have complained that William's future bride has achieved very little since in terms of a career, but this misses the point, which is that what she is, and what she symbolises, is of far greater importance when it comes to her future role, which by its very nature relies on the power of the symbolic. Her presence at the very heart of the monarchy will, in itself, show that the institution can respond and adapt to changing expectations.

People sense this, and there is enormous popular goodwill towards Kate Middleton, which cuts across generations. Late last year, when the car carrying Charles and Camilla was attacked during anti-government demonstrations, there was headline shock at the sight of the limo splashed with paint, as well as at the breakdown in security. When it became clear that the duchess had actually been poked with a stick through one of the car's open windows, a note of wry humour crept in. But what if it had been Prince William and Kate Middleton in the car? Would there have been muffled giggles if Kate had been prodded? It is highly unlikely: the outrage would have been unequivocal. Is it also too fanciful, too romantic, to suggest that, had it been the young couple, the protesters would have backed off anyway?