Whether Monarchist, sceptic or Republican, it would take a heart of stone not to wish the new Earl and Countess of Dumbarton all the luck in the world following their wedding yesterday.
There are millions of us opposed to the concept of a hereditary monarchy who can also see plenty of reasons why they want this and all marriages to succeed.
Yes, there should be justified public outrage at the taxpayer funding an event for which the security bill alone was a reported £30million.
But it can and should be put on hold for a day at least.
Prince Harry, born to a life of immense privilege, faced struggles in his childhood for which no amount of money could ever compensate.
The need to love and be loved applies to princes as much as it does to paupers.
Harry has never been more eloquent than when describing the trauma of walking in procession behind his mother’s coffin in 1997.
His wedding redefined him and may even have changed Britain for the better. In the minds of most people, he’s a new man, a thoroughly modern royal.
If there was warmth towards Harry yesterday, there can hardly have been a woman in the land whose heart did not go out to Meghan last week.
Anyone who has nervously clutched a bouquet in their life will relate to the troubled run-up to yesterday’s nuptials.
The problem siblings. The relatives so unpalatable they can’t even be invited. The last-minute health scare.
The gallant act of Prince Charles stepping in to the breach played into a recent narrative that Meghan is being saved by the Royals.
The family she never had, in Prince Harry’s words.
Initially, this may have seemed like a piece of royal delusion. Last week, though, put paid to that notion.
Her halfwit half-brother writing to Harry urging him to jilt Meghan at the altar.
The nephew arriving in London with a new strain of hydroponic cannabis named Markle Sparkle.
And, of course, Meghan’s father with his unfortunate arrangement with a local paparazzi in Mexico before his health scare.
If such a cast of characters was suggested to Meghan for a TV project pre-Harry, she’d likely have written it off as too far-fetched.
The theme developed by commentators and others who should know better has portrayed the Windsors as Meghan’s salvation, depicting her as a waif at the mercy of her own dysfunctional family.
It is completely false.
The main beneficiary from this union is not Meghan Markle. It is the House of Windsor. Princess Meghan does not need saving.
She worked herself up from the bottom over a 14-year career in one of the most difficult and competitive industries in the world.
This culminated in her landing a leading role in one of the world’s most popular TV dramas, winning widespread critical acclaim for her performances.
To those sections of the media which confuse acting with life, that journey has provided plenty of titillating material.
Back in the real world, though, packing a brilliant career’s worth of work into the first 18 years of her adult life will have given Meghan backbone, courage and perspective.
It gives her credibility. Proven in the world of work.
How many of the new in-laws can say that?
She undertook humanitarian and charity work, travelling to Afghanistan and Rwanda before it was demanded by her role.
Her childhood was disrupted by divorce but that is hardly a negative as she survived and thrived.
Even last week, more could have been done to protect her.
Was it really beyond the Kensington Palace courtiers to bring Mr Markle inside the tent much sooner or at least to have the couple visit him in Mexico?
While Harry and Meghan begin their honeymoon, there should be a full-scale steward’s inquiry under way in the Palace.
The lack of support offered to Meghan over the last few weeks has been noticeably poor.
It did not diminish her yesterday.
In fact, Meghan’s life is one marked by triumph over adversity from her beginnings in Crenshaw, Los Angeles, to her appearance in St George’s Chapel in Windsor yesterday.
She’s no burden. The Princess will only enhance the Windsors as she would most families.
