What is it that makes our Royal Family so special?

Whether you're in favour of the monarchy or not, it's hard to argue against the fact that the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton was a major national event.

I have to admit I was getting tired of the endless coverage in the media before the wedding, but when the big day finally arrived I actually enjoyed the occasion.

This wasn’t just a major occasion for Britain it was an international event, apparently up to 2 billion people worldwide watched the wedding.

It made me think: Why is our Royal family so popular? What is it that the rest of world finds so fascinating?

There are quite a few royal families around the world, but none of them holds the world’s attention like ours.

Nobody cares about the royal families in Holland or Sweden. The Spanish royal family gets a bit of attention now and again but they’re all minor league compared to the British.

I’m not a monarchist and I would never call myself a republican; but I do have a certain amount of respect for an institution that lasted for over a 1000 years.

While other European powers were overthrowing and killing off their royals in wars and revolutions, ours managed to survive. This has made us almost unique and although republicans will hate to hear this, it gives Britain an identity that many other countries simply don’t have.

Americans are fascinated by the Royal family – mainly because they don’t have one, and also because the United States was founded on the principle of escaping the rule of a British monarch in George III. Maybe the look at our Royal family and are reminded of what their founding fathers rejected. As for our European neighbours maybe our royals remind them of what they once had and have now lost.

I think if you’re going to have an institution like the monarchy you might as well have one that’s good. That’s one thing you can say about this country – we know how to do royalty well.

The wedding was impressive, we know how to put on our show, especially when the rest of the world’s watching.

There's always the ongoing debate on the relevance of the monarchy and it's role in British society. I think after Friday's wedding we've seen there's still a deep emotional attachment to the royals. They still manage to help define a big part of Britain's national identity. As long as that remains the case, the monarchy will be around for many years to come.