Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton Engaged!

And high time, too. Your scribe predicted this event over two years ago in his novel, "Winning the Lottery: A Tale of Greenwich and London." Since then he has been waiting patiently to learn whether his fiction would become fact. And today, it has.

One wishes the Royal couple all health and happiness in their new life together. They will bring new energy and verve to the monarchy, and undoubtedly a tremendous boost to its popularity. Wills is actively employed as a helicopter rescue pilot, and Kate, the first commoner in recent memory to marry an heir to the throne, is also actively engaged in her family's business. They are real people, not figureheads. Great Britain is lucky to have such a fine pair of young people as its future King and Queen.

Now, as you are all undoubtedly asking, what does this have to do with Greenwich? The answer is quite simple: we almost had Prince William's mother, Princess Diana, as our neighbor here in Town. Had she and Dodi Al Fayed lived, they might have married, and thus received as a wedding present the lovely house on Round Island, formerly home to Frederick and Patricia Supper of Greenwich and Palm Beach. The house is presently owned by Dodi's uncle, who carried out extensive renovations in anticipation of offering it to Dodi and Diana. Alas, it was not to be.

And so we fall back on your scribe's fictional novel, in which the protagonists meet, fall in love, and honeymoon in England, where they meet Wills and Kate and the Queen. Thus is cemented a strong relationship between Greenwich and the Royal Family. Perhaps this fiction--which almost became fact 13 years ago--may yet become reality.

After all, just as in the novel, your scribe, too, went off to London to visit with the Queen. See:

6/09/2009 07:13:00 AM

And then earlier this year he was invited for cocktails at Winfield House in Regent's Park, and to visit the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, both of which are important settings in the novel.

So little by little, it seems, the events of "Winning the Lottery" have been coming true. How's that for a tribute to the power of words? Simply write a story, and watch it turn into reality. Pretty nifty, wouldn't you say?

And so let us here in Greenwich send our best wishes to the newly-engaged couple in England (you can find Prince William on FaceBook these days), along with an open invitation to come and visit when they make their first trip to America together. As readers of this blog know, we enjoy frequent visits from British musicians and choirs; and our fellow citizen Natalie Pray is very active in both the St. George's Society and the English-Speaking Union. Probably no town our size in the entire United States has so many ties to Great Britain as does Greenwich.

Congratulations, Wills and Kate! Please come and visit us soon!