Mar 29, 2011 2 min read

Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton don’t need another fancy car, much less another toaster.

So their setting up a charity fund to celebrate their wedding creates a public benefit while making sense from their personal standpoint. They’re encouraging well-wishers who might otherwise have sent them a gift to contribute instead to a worthy cause.

The two have identified 24 different charities to include in the Royal Wedding Charitable Gift Fund. They’re not all well-known charities, and they’re not all in England. Some are based in Canada, Australia or New Zealand. But all fall within five categories that interest the prince and his bride-to-be: using art and sports to change lives, helping children reach their potential, providing home help, supporting military troops and their families, and conservation. (The complete list is available at www.royalweddingcharityfund.org.)

There’s much to be praised in the happy couple’s idea, and not just as it applies to the royals. Plenty of soon-to-be-married couples really don’t need the material and cash largesse that showers upon them as they take their vows, and considering the relatively high failure rate of marriage, those kitchen appliances, monogrammed towels and $100 bills aren’t always great investments.

Well researched, well run charities, on the other hand? They deserve everyone’s best wishes on the happy occasion.

The Pocono Record