It was the week that shocked and delighted (or at least mildly intrigued) the nation, as Prince Harry announced his engagement to American actress Meghan Markle.

Since we have no one to play with in the EU anymore, most Brits grasped the opportunity to celebrate with both hands, with many speculating whether a spring bank holiday could be in store for the country.

Still, as the majority of British citizens set to milking the news of the engagement for all it's worth, there is one person at least, who I imagine to be all too unenthusiastic about this latest development in the royal narrative.

Royal baby blues

Simon Mccoy was known by BBC fans as a regular presenter in the weekday afternoon slot. That is until someone in senior management made the catastrophic mistake (or stroke of genius, depending on your viewpoint) of assigning him the role of royal news reporter in the run-up to the birth of prince George.

Waiting outside St Mary's Hospital for the trace of an update on baby number one, McCoy made little effort to conceal his lack of enthusiasm:

His comment 'plenty more to come from here of course ... none of it news' sums up for many the bizarre tunnel vision that consumes the BBC whenever a royal event appears on the horizon.

Indeed, McCoy was far from unique in his derision of the royal regalia, with the BBC receiving a staggering 247 complaints in relation to royal baby coverage.

Clearly, on this occasion, no reshuffle was deemed necessary, as McCoy was back to his old tricks earlier this year, with the announcement of the due date of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child:

Jokingly telling viewers 'clear your diaries, get the time booked off, 'cause that's what I'm doing', McCoy seemed in no great hurry to relive the glory days of 2013.

Cynic or realist?

We might accuse McCoy of raining on our royal parade for no good reason, but at some stage, we have to admit, the man has a point.

It seems that as we burn our bridges with the EU and seek to disassociate ourselves from an increasingly unsavoury American president, the UK hasn't quite lived up to the Conservative globalist vision, but has instead started to look increasingly inward.

Last week, commentators on the Oxford Circus terror attack that never was were accused of being self-obsessed, with the terrorist attack in Sinai, Egypt, going largely unreported in favour of minor scares closer to home.

Perhaps a voice of reason is needed to keep us from well and truly disappearing into our royalist bubble - especially if there'll be no space for any other news on our screens in the run-up to the big event.

A healthy scepticism

With McCoy at the helm, we may proceed with caution into the next bout of royal fever.

2017 hasn't been quite the cure to 2016 that we'd been relying on - we undoubtedly deserve a little cheering up. Still, who better to do that than McCoy, whose cynical tones have, for me at least, come to be synonymous with British charm.

If we're going to be completely self-obsessed this Spring, let's at least do it in the form of laughing at ourselves.