Talk about being in the right place at the right time; well, sort of.
Peter Hunt, the BBC's Royal Correspondent, got the call about the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton when he was at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London attending the 7 July bombings inquest. A few moments later, camera crew at the ready, Hunt was outside the court building doing a live two-way for the BBC News Channel.
The royal engagement dominated every news outlet across the UK and was still 'breaking news' well into the evening of 16 November - the day of the announcement. By then, there was little more to be said; yet the plethora of reports continued the following day.
Call me a cynic - just as Peter did - for questioning the timing of the Prince's 'good news' during a period of widespread economic discontent: was the announcement fortuitous luck or a carefully planned PR exercise? Hunt insists that the future king is fiercely independent and was totally in control of the announcement.
CoJo News Debrief is an ongoing series of conversations with journalists about the back story of their own news reports. Previous films in this series:
CoJo News Debrief with Robert Pigott
