I MUST admit that seeing the royal engagement become the hottest story on the planet made me proud to be British.

We might not be at the top of our game when it comes to sport, education or economic growth, but when it comes to royalty we reign supreme.

And because the Queen reigns over us, it makes her the world’s top corgi.

Mostly I am ambivalent about the monarchy, but I don’t believe they’re a drain on the nation’s resources.

In fact, as a tourist draw they’re just the opposite.

Of course, after Diana’s death the royals lost some of their glamour and, dare I say it, their romance. This could now be restored thanks to Kate Middleton, who appears to be a very fine young lady.

I once covered a royal visit by Diana to Rotherham back in the early nineties.

She was received like a glitzy Hollywood star.

A few weeks, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had been in the town and I covered that visit also. By contrast the reception was respectful but rather muted.

It is a forlorn hope I know, but it would be better for Kate if she wasn’t subject to the same adulation as William’s mother.

I desperately hope my colleagues in the national press don’t try to exploit, or even try to find, the natural strains that are bound to occur in any new marriage.

Kate deserves a chance to develop her new role naturally - both as a new royal and as a wife.

The second event that made me proud this week was watching the Remembrance Sunday parade on TV.

However, it was not pride in nationalistic sense - the Cenotaph ceremony and parade made me proud to be human.

Sadly, some militaristic countries commemmorate such events by showing off their tanks and guns.

In Britain, we parade veterans in wheelchairs and people who served in the pay and catering corps.

They might not be fierce - but in a democracy they are, thankfully, still a force to be reckoned with.