Just the job

In Kate Middleton the royal family has made a good hire

Nov 18th 2010

Couple who met at college to marry

OTHER than asking prime ministers to form governments every five years or so and entertaining the public, the British monarchy has one main job: self-perpetuation. Choosing the mother of a future monarch is therefore crucial. Having made such a hash of it last time—the Diana drama did more for republicanism than any episode since George IV had his popular wife tried for adultery in 1820—it was imperative that, in the case of Prince William, the second in line to the throne, it should get it right.

The monarchy needs a combination of stability and glamour. It is a tricky balance to maintain. For most of the 20th century, it had plenty of the first and not much of the second. After Diana turned up, it was the other way round. Now things have settled down again. The public has accepted Camilla, Prince Charles’s former mistress, as his consort. His sons provide a certain amount of tabloid copy by doing princely things in the armed forces and nightclubs, but the public is bored. The royals need a woman with Diana’s glamour but without her instability. Kate Middleton, whose engagement to William was announced on November 16th, might well fit the bill.

Miss Middleton is very pretty and the newspapers like her. Her appeal is more modern than Diana’s. In an age mildly embarrassed by the royal males’ enthusiasm for wearing tweed and killing wildlife, her middle-class origins are a plus. That her forebears include Northumbrian miners and her mother was formerly an air stewardess, that her parents made their own money, and that she met the prince at university rather than a stately home, can only do her good. 

Unlike Diana, who was disadvantaged not just by warring aristocratic parents and a tiresome stepmother, but also by a faintly ludicrous stepgrandmother who wrote 664 romantic novels and always wore pink, Miss Middleton comes from a stable background. Her parents met working for British Airways; she was brought up in a two-parent, three-child family. Since people from stable families are more likely to produce them, she has a better chance of making a go of her marriage than Diana had.

But as anybody who has ever recruited staff knows, the key question is whether she really wants the job. Unlike Diana, who was thrust into it at 20 and evidently had no idea what it entailed, Miss Middleton clearly does. She is 28, and is said to have had her eye on William since she was a schoolgirl. She has been dating him for years; they split up briefly in 2007, allegedly because he was reluctant to commit. Now she’s got the job, she seems likely to stick with it.

Britain 

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巧合？英國時局艱困 皇室報喜

中央社 (2010-11-19 20:50)

（中央社台北2010年11月19日電）
英國經濟正在逐漸擺脫衰退，英國皇室傳出喜訊對經濟一定有提振的作用。  就在經濟從至少60年來最嚴重的衰退中脫身1年後，英國皇室於本週宣布威廉王子和凱特‧密道頓（KateMiddleton）訂婚的消息。他們預計於明年中舉行婚禮，同一時間英國政府也將削減開支，以降低歷史新高的預算赤字。 

根據彭博的「今日圖表」，自二次大戰以來，英國皇室傳出大事的時間，與經濟困局不謀而合。在加冕典禮、女王登基25週年紀念和查爾斯王子與黛安娜王妃的世紀婚禮後，英國經濟擴張速度會隨之加快。根據彭博推估，去年英國經濟下挫5%後，英國央行預測今年經濟成長為1.8%，明年為2.6%。 

倫敦經濟與企業研究中心（CEBR）經濟師葛林伍德（Richard Greenwood）說：「雖然幕後操控的因素比以前還重，但這似乎只是碰巧而已。無庸置疑地，這將短暫促進旅遊和零售業。」 

女王伊麗莎白二世於1953年登基後1年，國內生產毛額（GDP）成長0.1%，在此同時英國於戰後開始重建經濟。1953年英國國家稅收成長3.8%，1954年則勁揚4.1%。1977年慶祝女王登基滿25週年，英國也正從一場危機中浴火重生，1976年時英國向國際貨幣基金（IMF）尋求緊急貸款援助。1974和1975年的經濟雙雙萎縮。登基25週年當年的GDP擴張2.4%，1978年則攀升3.2%。 

女王的長子查爾斯王子與黛安娜於1981年共結連理，全球約有7.5億名觀眾收看這場世紀婚禮。在一連串的罷工事件癱瘓了英國，史稱「不滿的冬天」（Winterof Discontent）發生後，當時的首相佘契爾夫人（Margaret Thatcher）已掌權2年。1980年GDP下滑2%，1981年下降1.2%；1982年則成長2.2%，1983年增加3.7%。
（譯者：中央社陳昱婷）
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