Another Royal Wedding

But still not the "Big One", meaning Prince William and Kate Middleton. No, now we're talking about Prince Albert of Monaco, who is finally getting married at the age of 52. After a long reign as one of the world's most eligible bachelors, and a relatively shorter reign as the ruler of Monaco, Albert has now finally plighted his troth to a woman from South Africa named Charlene Wittstock. She's blonde, she's pretty and she's 20 years younger than the prince, which presumably means there's time for her to produce a legitimate heir to the Monaco throne.

If my use of the word "legitimate" strikes you as quaint, you should know that although the dashing Prince Albert made it to age 52 without tying the knot, he hasn't exactly been sitting around knitting all this time. He's actually the father of two children already, a girl and a boy, neither of whom are eligible to inherit because he wasn't married to either of their mothers. This is no big deal in Monaco, where Albert's sister Princess Caroline gave birth to her first child 5 1/2 months after the wedding, and his younger sister Stephanie had two children before marrying (and divorcing) her first husband, followed by a third child with a man she never bothered to marry at all.

It's sure a lot different from the uptight British royal family, who forced poor Prince Charles to propose to an untouched 19-year-old girl, for reasons that seemed important at the time and couldn't possibly matter less now. We all know how the disaster that was "Charles and Di" turned out, but that was then, this is now and even in England the royals are loosening up. Wills and Kate have been together for years and no one is pretending that she's still a virgin. On the other hand, Wills hasn't gotten around to proposing yet, and I'll bet Kate Middleton is looking towards Monaco with an envious eye. I say "Chin up, waitey Katie." If Prince Albert can be persuaded to walk down the aisle, there's hope for long-suffering royal girlfriends everywhere.