Taylor Swift’s engagement is a great advert for the cult of celebrity

Bar spending a post-Covid year listening to her lockdown album, “Folklore”, I’m not what you would class as a “Swiftie”. Of course I’m familiar with her greatest hits. Who could have missed the sick beats of “Shake It Off” or be blank faced at “Blank Space”? But I’m not one of those fanatical concert sing-a-longers.

Yet despite the lunacy of her unwavering support for Sleepy Joe Biden, she seems a likeable Lefty; even her nemesis Donald Trump was forced to admit that she’s a “terrific person” upon hearing the news of her engagement to American football star Travis Kelce on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old singer-songwriter shared a photo of Kelce down on one knee in a garden filled with white and pink roses beneath a decorative arch. It’s since been liked by tens of millions of people.

Some may sniff at the column inches and air time afforded these high profile lovebirds. (Fox News cut away from live coverage of President Trump’s ongoing cabinet meeting to break the news of the engagement). But these are faithless times: if we cannot worship at the altar of celebrity marriage, where can we? (I’m writing this on my own 20th wedding anniversary, so cut me some schmaltzy slack).

From Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to Posh and Becks – we’ve long been fascinated by power couples. And Taylor and Travis (Taylis? Travor?) are simply the longest in a long line of showbiz pairings that beg the simple question: can they go the distance?

For all her lyrical genius and his sporting prowess, can these phenomenally successful millennials achieve something truly extraordinary in remaining together?

Are this “English teacher and gym teacher”, as Swift put it on Instagram, really going to defy the odds of more than one in three marriages failing and end up in Botoxed old age together? Even when she’s no longer able to wear red lipstick without looking like a prostitute and he’s having to resort to being a personal trainer to one of the Kardashian kids?

It’s hard enough making marriage work behind closed doors – imagine doing it in front of the world’s media and hundreds of millions of social media followers? At least they can afford separate sinks and someone to load and unload the dishwasher.

There are doubtless many naysayers who are giving it five years at most, mindful that Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hiddleston and John Meyer all tried and failed to get Swift to change her tune, as her songs have sound-tracked her own romantic woes. But this one feels different and we should all embrace it.

We live in a society without a common religion; one that appears to have turned its back on its traditions. Despite the reluctance of many young people to tie the knot, marriage remains one of the great institutions. A man and a woman willing to enter into holy matrimony in 2025 is something to be rejoiced. (Especially as fertility dropped to a record low in Britain last year.)

It’s also a triumph for self-confessed cat ladies everywhere, who can purr at the news that there is always someone out there for you (and your furry friends).

Like or loathe Swift’s music (and how can you hate it, really?), she remains a rare phenomenon in 21st century public life. An icon who has not only built a billion dollar fortune on the basis of raw talent and hard graft, but also someone who embodies Christian values and old fashioned morals.

As she once said: “love seems like this huge complicated thing. But it seems like every once in a while, two people get it figured out, two people get it right.” If everything that seemed so complicated suddenly becomes simple, then you know you’ve met The One, Taylor. As someone said when I married a man of Irish stock, 20 years ago today: “May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.”

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