Britons faced a right royal slew of April Fool's jokes on Friday, with a left-wing daily pretending to endorse the monarchy and a fake poll saying parents were renaming their children William and Kate.
With news dominated by the royal wedding, British newspapers and pollsters took the opportunity to poke some light-hearted fun at the mounting enthusiasm.
The left-leaning Guardian newspaper caught readers off-guard with an editorial saying it had dropped its traditional hostility to royals.
"Few things, after all, are as likely to lift the spirits of Britain's embattled public sector workers or benefit claimants than the sight of Kate Middleton's sure-to-be spectacular wedding dress," the Guardian said.
Meanwhile a "survey" by pollsters ComRes said that 68% of people aged 16-18 had applied to St Andrews University in Scotland, where William and Kate met, "to try to find a spouse."
It also said 5% of parents had renamed their children William or Kate, while 55% of single women confessed to having used Google to Prince Harry's marital status. It said the poll was commissioned by "lifestyle think-tank Folio Parl" - an anagram of April Fool.