The fourth floor room in Richmond Place is teeming with international students and natives alike dressed in formal wear and heels, pressed shirts and kilts. Walls swirl in red and white streamers and feature English flags and Union Jacks. Celebrity-crazed students pass around plates of Wills and Kate, hold hors d'œuvres and drink at the appropriate drinking game times from portrait-laden mugs of cocktails. American students at the University of Edinburgh have planned and executed the perfect royal wedding party. One guest parades the room with her new hair cut, the “Kate Middleton”, which she aptly describes as “long and straight with a little curl at the ends”, and another looks her best in a summer dress, clutching a mug adorned with a photo of Will and Kate. The television is blaring with all of the expected pomp and circumstance coverage of the royal wedding at Westminster. With the university closed for the occasion, the party is well into full swing by 11am – the room having been booked since seven.

Students and residents of Scotland and beyond flocked to parties such as these. There were women pulling out dusty and moth-holed wedding dresses for the event. Royal family mask parties were also a hit – as was the wedding-inspired Facebook drinking game.

This event extends well beyond the United Kingdom and represents a truly international affair. Why, for examples, are American students so supportive of the crown? Why are Canadian news networks broadcasting this even from 2am onwards? What is it about this wedding that has inspired such fervent love for the monarchy? The legacy of William’s mother, Princess Diana, and all that she represented in the international community, remains strong but the media’s love of Wills and Kate extends beyond the ties of his charismatic late mother. From Kate’s iconic engagement ring, which has inspired copies the world over, to the approachable charm exuded by William, there are many things that make the royal couple so attractive.

The power of the media in such occasions is overwhelming. The Swedish royal, Princess Victoria, recently married sweetheart Daniel Westling – another young, attractive, privileged couple with a similar rags-to-riches story for the fitness trainer boyfriend-turned-prince. A dispute regarding the release of television images of the wedding led to a media protest regarding the wedding’s coverage. The result? No one outside of royal bloodlines and Sweden knew it happened.

However, news broadcasts worldwide have almost ceaselessly commented on the lead up to the British royal wedding and on the day itself. Media centres such as Msnbc.com, an American news site, are offering photo-spreads of Kate as a child and detailing security measures of the event – it seems that everyone is taking full advantage of the affair. William and Kate mosaics of user pictures are available on MSN and Yahoo.com offered users the opportunity to send video well-wishes to the newlyweds.

Tourist shops have offered everything from mugs and plates to streamers and face paint, with many of them selling out of Wills and Kate stock at least the day before the wedding. The news and shops frenzy has led to the need for celebration, especially here in the UK, says American University of Edinburgh student, Aubrey Siegel: “I actually don't think the wedding is particularly a big deal but the UK at least seems to be quite obsessed. It made me feel like we should do something for the wedding or we'd be missing out- another reason for this little get-together.”

For a culture obsessed with celebrity, the wedding awards onlookers around the world the opportunity to gawk at the beautiful and privileged couple: “Prince William and Kate Middleton have become huge international celebrities,” Siegel admits, “and, like any celebrity marriage, many people are interested.” Wills is the young, eloquent and handsome emergency rescue helicopter pilot, who met the woman of his dreams whilst attending university. And the Kate Middleton rags-to-riches story epitomizes the American dream, ‘pulling herself up by her bootstraps’ to become a princess after catching the eye of the Prince of Wales. America took full advantage of this image in the most American way they could: releasing a straight to DVD movie on the couple this past week.

The media-frenzied wedding allows Americans the opportunity to indulge in a fascination with royalty, something they have never been culturally awarded. With a government established on a system of power checks, balances and a presidency which only spans two four-year terms at most, the royal family of Britain maintains an aura of distant fairytale fascination to Americans. There is even a tendency to associate popular presidents in terms of royalty – epitomized by the Kennedy dynasty. In terms of political power, the Bushes prove to be more ‘royal’ with two presidents and a senator, however, they lack the finesse, not to mention the public support and affection typically associated with the American ideal of royalty. But even the presidents given royalty labels lack the pomp and circumstance of the British monarchy – the more sophisticated cousin to American culture.

America is not the only country entranced by the royal wedding. Here in Britain, it seems that many have been taking advantage of the big day. Scotland will play soon host to another royal wedding, that of Zara Phillips, although her ‘intimate’ wedding to rugby player, Mike Tindall, will most definitely be overshadowed by continuing coverage of the newlywed Prince William and Princess Catherine. The latter will potentially have garnered more airtime in Scotland than the upcoming May elections. For Scotland, the wedding is one of well-timed financial opportunity. The wedding is set to take in £80 million in revenue. With the festival season fast approaching and tourist season picking up pace, the nuptials provide a much-needed boost to the economy. The tourist board VisitScotland has launched a series of promotional adverts for travel deals for tourists and journalists to visit ‘Royal Scotland’, banking on its relatively close proximity to Westminster. In short, Scotland will benefit greatly from the financial opportunity Wills and Kate have awarded them. And why not? After all, the couple did meet on Scottish soil.

As the procession advanced on Friday, the partygoers made the best of the British royalty phenomenon. It was clear that the world had stopped to see the royal wedding. However, Siegel aptly wondered: “if you think about the role of the monarchy, the cost of this wedding, and its significance to the world (which really is minimal) I don't really understand what all the fuss is about.”