A gay couple have become the first same-sex pairing to announce their engagement in The Times forthcoming marriages column.

How cute. Clearly more of a gimmick than a genuine step forward, though – what’s groundbreaking about saying ‘We will get married when the state says we can’? I suppose it shows that The Times is plodding into the twenty-first century, at least.

But it did get me thinking: Imagine the furore if Charles had announced that he was going to marry his butler, with whom he may or may not have had a brief fling, instead of Camilla… That would certainly have got the tabloids talking and left the constituional boffins with something to work out.