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The just-married Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, exchange pleasantries in the carriage on the way from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

If it is really true that two billion people were watching then that was not, in the end, surprising. We might not do everything well in this country, but boy, when it comes to a royal spectacle, we really do know how to put on a show.

As a piece of theatre, as an event to remember, as a moment in history, it was quite something; seamless, colourful and, at times, really rather moving. We will no doubt record it as the moment the world bought back into the royal fairytale, but that is to miss the point. The reason this wedding struck such a chord is that it was demonstrably the product of a real romance, pursued with some care and thought by a couple who don't want global fame to obliterate their chance of domestic happiness. For all the magnificence of the pomp and circumstance, they managed to preserve on Friday a sense that they were marrying each other and not the rest of the world.

It perhaps shouldn't have surprised us. William is a determined young man who has learnt one overpowering lesson from both parents, which is that happiness comes from the love of one, not the adoration of millions.

Having said that, the events of Friday might just have convinced him that it is possible to have both. The pair certainly did look like they genuinely enjoyed the affection being showered upon them from all quarters.

That was overwhelmingly the mood in the Abbey. They said they wanted it to be their wedding, not that of the great and the good, and as we filed in, there was a notable sense of intimacy in the front pews where family and close friends were seated. But even down at the back, there was an unusual air of bonhomie, conversation breaking out all around as people introduced themselves to each other in a thoroughly un-British fashion. Only as Kate arrived did a sudden hush descend. Her progress was spellbinding, the warmth palpable.

It took me a while afterwards to work out exactly why her arrival created such an impact, but the reason is surely this; Kate Middleton's marriage to William seems to represent to many the triumph not of social aspiration, but of ordinary decent values. There are pushier girls than Kate in every corner of the country and many more extrovert, ambitious or driven. But in the end William chose loyalty, discretion and kindness, values you might argue we don't shout about as much as we could. Combine that with the fact that we all know his road has often been harder than it might have been and it is no wonder half the nation was in a mood to be inspired.

It was, in short, quite a day. And as they headed off on honeymoon, they will have had much to ponder.

But marriage is a time of change for everyone and the question they will inevitably ask is just how much their world will alter, and how much of that change they will control.

William has done his level best up until now to keep fame at bay. Eton was a helpfully confined environment, St. Andrews too. And for the past couple of years, he and Kate have been holed up in the remote wilds of Anglesey where he mostly comes home from flying rough sorties out over the Irish Sea to a fish supper and a spot of telly.

From now on, there may be less settled domesticity than either of them would ideally like. The first question they will have to grapple with after their return from honeymoon is; how much is too much? Requests will be tumbling over the edge of their desks. The tour of Canada looms, but there will be immediate pressure to visit Australia and New Zealand, not to mention Jamaica and Barbados and all the other sun-kissed islands of which he is one day destined to be head of state. Right now, they are about as big a sensation as the world has to offer and they are our sensation.

Government ministers would not be human if they were not tempted to send the pair on a never-ending global tour to help pull brand Britain out of the economic mire.

Nor is that all. Requests from charities will back-up and anyone wanting someone for anything will look first to see if they can get William and Kate.

This clearly has the potential to create friction with other members of the family firm.

William has no time for the idea that the monarchy might skip a generation, since no son in his right mind would want to step over a father, but how does he make sure his global fame and popularity doesn't fuel this debate? One of his immediate aims will be to make sure his support for his father is seen as seamless and total. And it is perhaps fair to point out that whilst Diana tends often to be given the credit for William's strengths, not least in regret at her absence, there were indisputably two of them in that marriage when it came to bringing up their sons.

When William and Kate do have time to ponder their next moves, their instinct will almost certainly be to extend his military service for as long as feasibly possible and try to build their lives around the rhythms of his duties. There are good practical reasons for this. I sat next to some of his RAF colleagues in the service and it was clear from our conversation that their work is not without its hairy moments. It would evidently be a bad idea for William to overdo his other commitments and then park his Wessex in the Irish Sea.

He has plenty of aspirations left in the military. He has never hidden his desperation to get out to Afghanistan or another conflict zone in a way his brother is destined to do behind the controls of an Apache. There will be endless debates as to how feasible this really is, but there is no doubt the intent is there. It is perhaps a bit too brutal to note that the swift production of an heir might help. And if it's a girl, a rapid change in the succession rules will be required, which is not as easy it might sound given that it would need legislation in many parliaments, not just our own.

It's also the case that in an ideal world, Kate would find time to pursue some creative interests, particularly with her photography, so a balance is not always going to be easy to find. If they do too much of what the world demands of them, the pressures on them will be internal, too little and they will be external as the honeymoon fades and the press turns on them for not giving enough of themselves.

Up until now, they have made disappearing from view between big moments into an art form, but it is a little unclear how easy this is now going to be. Their relationship with the British press is pretty good these days and consistently improving, but that doesn't change the fact that they now represent an enormous business opportunity for the international paparazzi. I have garnered the reaction of various colleagues on the potential value of a honeymoon snap and most estimates run into the millions. Up until now, they have (by and large) been left alone in Anglesey, but one wonders how long this situation will continue. The temptation for international photographers may simply be too great.

There are other complications, too. It may surprise many to hear that whilst William and Kate are privately wealthy, they have no direct access to public money to fund their office and must ask his father for every penny they spend. Since the Duchy of Cornwall provides a rich seam of income, one might argue this shouldn't involve any great hardship, but it's a potential source of tension both sides could live without, even if it has been managed smoothly so far.

Perhaps that will turn out to be David Cameron's wedding present to them, though in the age of austerity that seems rather unlikely.

Other changes will be harder to quantify. This wedding was billed as the moment the middle class met the monarchy and sitting in the Abbey, this seemed a pretty accurate summation to me, though not in the way it was originally suggested. The truth is that William himself comes across as a de facto member of the middle class. You can't say his life has been typical of the average Briton, since there has not been much sign of struggling by on twenty plus grand a year. But he has largely swum with the middle class mainstream. He rides a motorbike, travels on scheduled airlines and (mostly) likes to keep things simple. Couple that with the arrival of the Middletons, whom I think most people will have concluded conducted themselves with some dignity on Friday, and you can see how the winds of change might come in time to blow more forcefully through palace corridors.

There's no doubt we all understand that the appeal of these occasions is the link it provides with our history. But just because everything always has been so does not mean that everything always must be so. At least, that's not a good argument to use with him.

The farcical way in which the Libyan and Syrian ambassadors had to have their invitations withdrawn at the last minute seemed like a bit of a mess everyone could have done without.

But if a brave new world is dawning, there will inevitably have to be adjustments.

William has a tight knit team, all of whom like Kate immensely, but managing a couple will evidently be different from managing a prince and his girlfriend - and interestingly so.

One could go on about potential changes and complications. And perhaps on. But I get ahead of myself. For the moment, the country seems happy to bask in the glow of what turned out to be a remarkably moving day.

It has always seemed to me that the strength of our constitutional system - if indeed you believe it has strengths - is the way in which it allows us to pile all our angst onto politicians and yet have an alternative leadership we can gather around at times of national festival or crisis. William's skill has been to understand the value of a clean sheet upon which people can hang their aspirations. With the national economic mood so gloomy, the past few days have evidently felt more of a release than usual.

William will understand the consequences of this. He will know that he has wooed the world and there can be no way back without catastrophic damage to the monarchy. He can be happy or he can be sad, but married he must stay. Talk about an incentive not to drag out an argument! The last few months have, for me, involved a brief segue into a world I once used to inhabit as a royal correspondent, but on Tuesday it is back to dealing with the excitements of the AV referendum. So all I can really do is join countless other millions in wishing them the very best of luck. Challenges there may be, but since they have taken everything in their stride so far, there is every reason to believe they will continue to do so.

Their wedding created such a stir because of who they are, not what the institution is.

And as a result, an interesting new era beckons.

Tom Bradby is the Political Editor of ITN in London, England

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