The Royal Family's modern new couple

In terms of a romance, Prince William and Catherine Middleton's decade-long courtship has been thoroughly modern. A fairytale, no. Romeo and Juliet, definitely not.

With the Queen having watched the marriages of three of her four children disintegrate, there was never going to be overt pressure placed on Prince William to rush into wedlock.

So he was allowed to live with his future wife, from the middle class no less, not only as a flat mate at university, but as a couple in northern Wales.

Considering that Diana called Prince Charles 'Sir' up until their engagement, these were serious concessions for a family so entrenched in tradition.

Like many young couples, William and Catherine have had their bumps along the way.

They split up briefly in 2007 before reuniting and deciding to marry nearly a decade after their first meeting.
'That is what people do, the global western middle class experience, the gap year, university, cohabitation. 

Previous royal people that were part of a generation that could have done those things did not do those things,' British social commentator Peter York said.

'William and Kate are like their peers in that sense. It is not a classic royal marriage.'

Read the rest of this interesting article from Sky here: Sky News: The royal family's modern new couple