On 16 November 2010, the Prince of Wales announced the engagement of his eldest son Prince William to MissCatherine Middleton. This long-awaited union is significant to Commonwealth nations, not only because the Prince issecond in line to the British throne, but because the couple has been a favourite of the people since they first appeared in public. Their life together will serve as a symbol of the modern British Royal Family. Not since the seventeenth century has an heir to the British throne married an untitled commoner with no royal ancestors. In 2011 this may seem a trivial historical detail related to the marriage of His Royal Highness Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton, but it is a sobering reminder of the rarity of this momentous occasion.