The Royal Wedding: How are the public celebrating?

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had been billed as a fairy tale occasion – another piece of romantic pageantry that Britain does so well.

The playboy Prince marrying his glamorous actress wife was meant to be a distraction from relentless news about Brexit and Donald Trump.

But the fairy tale quickly descended into soap opera this week.

Would Meghan’s father attend? What will her half sister say next? And then the news that Prince Charles will walk his son’s bride down the aisle.

So we’re all eagerly waiting for the celebrations to begin, right?

Wrong.

According to an exclusive survey carried out by Atomik Reasearch only a quarter (26%) of us are excited about the latest Royal wedding. A huge 69% of Brits say they are totally unexcited about the nuptials, with another six per cent saying they ‘don’t know’.

Maybe they will make their minds up when the marching bands strike up in the streets of Windsor on Saturday morning.

Women are more excited than men, with 33% counting down the hours until the fifth in line to the throne says, ‘I do’, compared to just 19% of men.

Millennials aged 25-34 are most looking forward to the big day, with 34% barely able to sleep until Saturday compared to just 20% of 55-64-year-olds.

Royal fever is highest in London (34%) but the grumpiest about all things royal were yet again the Scots, 78% of whom say they have not the slightest interest in the wedding.

The much-publicised clash brought about by having the royal wedding and the FA Cup final on the same day has split the nation.

A quarter (25%) of those surveyed say they will watch Chelsea take on Manchester United with 21% saying they will watch the wedding.

However, 44% of people say they will watch neither and just 10% will watch both.

Most people surveyed (71%) said they would not celebrate the event at all, with just two per cent going to a themed party.

Even the promise of longer pub opening hours don’t seem to be able to shake Brits out of their negativity.

Only nine per cent said they would take advantage of extended opening times, with 57% saying they would not be going to a pub to watch either event on the day.

Londoners were most likely to hit the pubs with 28% saying they would be heading to their local compared to just three per cent of those who said they wold be going in the east of England.

But there was overwhelming approval for the royal couple’s decision not to invite any political leaders to the ceremony.

Two thirds (66%) of those surveyed said they backed the decision, with just 11% disapproving.

But who knows what will happen?

At the rate the story is currently changing, we could see Vladimir Putin conducting the ceremony, with Kim Jong-un looking after the catering and Elvis putting in a shift as a wedding singer.