WILLIAM AND KATE: Ring of fire?

I am no Royalist, so I will make that clear from the very start. However, when I heard the news of the engagement today, I quietly wished them luck.

I remember when Charlie and Di got engaged all those years ago and they showed off the ring to the eager photographers. Even then, I could tell it was a marriage forged in hell.

Poor old Di didn't know what was about to hit her. Charlie was a playboy and enjoying his single status - and who could blame him? Let's face it, he ain't the best looking bloke in the world and his nether regions rule his grey matter. Even back then he was in love with Camilla, despite the fact that she was already with someone else.

It all boils down to the fact that Chas needed an heir and that was obviously made quite clear to him by his aides and close family. A king must reproduce and provide a boy. It's just the way of things, I'm afraid. Charles is reminiscent of Edward VII; a bloke with loads of money and status who enjoyed the good things in life and wasn't in the slightest bit interested in doing 'the right thing'. Old Queen Vic knew her boy was more interested in knocking off music hall stars than engaging in kingly duties. It appears that QE2 feels the same about her own offspring. Charles will never be king as long as his mother is on the throne, Her Majesty will make sure of that. She must be so very disappointed with her son.

I shuddered when I heard that Kate will wear Di's engagement ring and immediately wondered if Wills is doing it for love or through sheer determination to prove that his mum's legacy to bring the Royal Family to the masses was right all along.

To be honest, I never liked Diana. She looked sly and I didn't trust her. I think she was out to get all that she could but got more than she bargained for. Eventually, she paid for her folly with her life.

Wills and Harry were a tragic sight when they walked behind their mother's hearse. Charles looked pathetic and riddled with guilt. Di's brother, Charles Spencer, just about summed it all up with his address at Diana's funeral.

I wonder where the engagement ring has been kept all this time. I honestly don't know because I'm writing this from the heart, not from research. Was it kept in safe keeping by Wills and Harry or secure in a safe deposit box at Coutts? If anything, it should be on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum for everyone to see, not on the finger of Miss Middleton.

I wonder what Charles had to say about Wills giving Kate the ring. Was he happy, sad or indifferent?

I daresay Phil The Greek ain't too happy with the way his eldest son turned out. After all, Phil is old school and still adheres to old school values. I've read that, like me, he never really liked his late daughter-in-law and considered her a mere necessary evil that had to be put up with. His son - who hasn't really achieved anything other than spouting off rubbish about organic farming, the benefits of talking to plants and the genius of The Goons - didn't have the brains or the guts to stand up to his old man and ultimately paid a terrible price for his stupidity and cowardice.

Has Wills now fallen for the same old trick that bamboozled his dad, I wonder? Will Kate be another Diana? Only time will tell, I suppose.

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