I wasn’t going to, but I just couldn’t help myself.

I’m talking about the royal wedding, of course. Like most Kiwi blokes I watched the Breakers beat the Taipans at basketball, then thought I would just switch over for a quick peek at Wills and Kate before heading off to bed (Fran was at a royal wedding party!)

But, again I suspect like many other blokes, I ended up watching until about 1.30 in the morning. I couldn’t help myself. There’s something about a Big Royal Do that is just compelling.

These occasions always give me mixed emotions. One the one hand it’s all a bit of fun, a celebration of two people in love, and it’s great to see so many people enjoying themselves. Look at those thousands upon thousands of happy people walking up Pall Mall – not a beer can to be seen, not a cross word said, not a scuffle in sight.

On the other hand it is an obscene waste of money in a country where there are so many people battling poverty, poor education and ill health. And it was a reminder that wealth and privilege are still very much a part of British society (and ours as well, although in our case it’s based on money rather than breeding); and that the only credential William needs for being King is his birthright – provided he’s a bloke and not female.

The Royal Family seems a bit of an anachronism in a modern, cynical world. Perhaps that’s its appeal – a nostalgic return to a supposedly simpler past where we pledged allegiance to one man, or woman, and in return expected to be treated decently and fairly. Of course, it didn’t always happen that way and we conveniently overlook what tends to happen when absolute power is placed in the hands of a single person.

But despite my republican instincts, on balance I tend to err in favour of our system of constitutional monarchy.

On a practical level the Queen acts as a brake on the potential excesses of an elected government, even though in real terms she probably has no power.

But what excites me the most about the British monarchy is that it continues to recognise that supreme authority comes from God. I don’t know if William believes Jesus Christ is his personal Lord and saviour, but at least in his wedding he and his family openly acknowledged their allegiance to a greater power than they. It wasn’t a civil union.

Of course the media fudged over that fact and preferred to talk about Kate’s dress and her sister’s backside.

I heard one describe the Archbishop of Canterbury as boring. Yet I thought he gave a superb mini-sermon on the importance of the God-given sacrament of marriage – a message heard by billions of people around the world. For a fleetingly brief few moments the attention of the world was focused on a biblical message. How often does that happen these days?

So perhaps the monarchy has an important function after all – a reminder that “all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

– Duncan Pardon