There was still little sign of the longed-for recovery from global recession. But for one magical day at the end of April, the world chose to forget about its economic problems, and celebrated a modern fairytale instead.

Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, and for one day at least, it seemed as if all was right with the world.

A million or so people flocked to London for the great day: countless millions more all over the world watched enthralled on television.

They were not to be disappointed. Kate’s dress was hailed a triumph; and – to the delight of the crowds outside Buckingham Palace and the many millions watching live on television – the couple sealed their union with not one but two kisses on the palace balcony. The first one, in response to a chant of ‘kiss, kiss, kiss’ from the vast crowd thronging down below, seemed a little embarrassed; the second, a short time later, was carried off with great good humour. The crowd cheered.

Among those braving the cold outside Buckingham Palace that day were the ‘Yorkshire Girls’ – a group of women and girls from East Yorkshire dressed from head to toe in red white and blue.

Among the loyal locals making the trip to London for the day were Malton-born mum-of-three Laura Greenwood and her children. “We are never going to see this again,”

she said. “We will watch it for years to come on the telly and the kids can say ‘my mum took me there.’”

In other news, Claudia Lawrence hoaxer Richard O’Rourke, who pretended he had buried the body of the missing York chef in a field, was jailed for 18 months; York supermarket worker Michelle Howe talked about how lucky she felt to be alive after surviving six brain operations to remove a tumour; and Harrogate’s worldfamous flower show brought a welcome splash of colour to North Yorkshire.

A £21 million project to transform the Great hall at York’s National Railway Museum, meanwhile, became the latest casualty of the economic crisis when it was abandoned in the wake of Government cuts.

Elsewhere an investigation was launched after a Royal Navy officer was killed and a second seriously injured when they were shot by a colleague during a civic ceremony on board the nuclear submarine HMS Astute, which was visiting Southampton; British Army officers were sent to Libya to advise rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi; and lawyer Charlotte Morris, who represented a number of celebrities, claimed thousands of people could potentially have had their telephones hacked by the News of the World.