Following the announcement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement, British and international news outlets have been flooded with reports on what the Suits star’s ring will be like, where the couple will get married and who will be invited to the wedding.
However, judging by a quick sweep of Twitter, it’s clear that Brits only care about one aspect of the imminent royal nuptials: whether or not they will receive the day off work.
It’s not unprecedented for Brits to receive a day of paid leave when it coincides with an important royal affair. When Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, married at Westminster Abbey in London on April 29 2011, then-Prime Minister David Cameron declared the day a public holiday – or a “Bank Holiday” — for England, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure people had an opportunity to celebrate the future King’s wedding.
Similarly, a four-day long weekend was declared in Britain for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June 2012, celebrating the long-reigning monarch’s 60 years on the throne. Workers were also given an extra day of holiday to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002.
So unsurprisingly, it was at the top of a lot of Twitter users’ minds:
However, it’s unlikely that Brits will receive a day off work to celebrate Prince Harry’s spring 2018 wedding with Markle. Unfortunately the combination of Harry’s lowly position in line to the throne (he’s currently fifth, but set to fall to sixth following the birth of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s third baby next year), with the likelihood that he will shun a grand affair in Westminster Abbey for a more intimate affair somewhere outside London, means a day off work for Brits is not looking like it’s on the cards.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- The Reinvention of J.D. Vance
- How to Survive Election Season Without Losing Your Mind
- Welcome to the Golden Age of Scams
- Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains?
- The Many Lives of Jack Antonoff
- 33 True Crime Documentaries That Shaped the Genre
- Why Gut Health Issues Are More Common in Women
Write to Kate Samuelson at kate.samuelson@time.com