On Saturday, Britain's Prince Charles finally married his longtime love, Camilla Parker-Bowles after a romance that spanned three decades and was every bit as compelling as a pulp fiction romance novel. Certainly, one would expect the televised coverage of the blessing ceremony and subsequent hoopla would have attracted a large television audience. This was, after all the culmination of a story that, if it had been written as a plot in a movie, people might find unbelievable. But it turns out that Brits were far more interested in a soap opera wedding than the real thing.

On Friday, two characters from the soap opera Coronation Street were married (for the second time). The fictional wedding of Ken and Deidre drew 12.1 million viewers, with a peak of 12.9 during the broadcast. The real-life soap opera wedding blessing of the Prince and Duchess, pulled in 9.7 million.

The similarities are striking. Both couples are middle-aged and divorced, but have had romances that have spanned decades. Coronation Street has endured longer, though. The show has been broadcast for 45 years and still is a ratings winner.

Charles and Camilla can take heart in that their wedding events did rate higher than the Grand National steeplechase, an event that was pushed back 25 minutes to accommodate the broadcast of the wedding. Only 7.3 million viewers watched the race. That should be some small consolation to the couple, now honeymooning in Scotland.