“It must be wonderful to ring in the new year over and over and over,” Marge says enthusiastically to one of the doleful waiters.

“Please kill me,” he whimpers.

As Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visited Sydney and Dubbo this week, that idea of the endless New Year’s Eve seemed strangely appropriate.

The state’s west was, understandably, beside itself to be hosting two well-known faces from one of the most well-known families in the world.

(Though Bathurst could be forgiven for being a bit miffed at missing out after the city was included on a shortlist of possible locations.)

The excitement in Dubbo and surrounds was palpable even as far away as here in the Central Tablelands as the date of the big visit got closer and the crowds on Wednesday, from all reports, were big and enthusiastic.

But it would not have been an easy day. 

There would have been the security, the intense media coverage, the logistical challenges of dealing with so many people in the same place, the simple hard work of ensuring two very important VIPs were shepherded around safely and nothing went wrong.

For the people of Dubbo, they had their once-in-a-lifetime moment on Wednesday. And there must have been more than one person in that city – whether a police officer or a councillor or a journalist – who fell into bed on Wednesday night and thanked god it was just a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

For the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, however, and their inner circle, that day will be repeated many times over this year – and the next and the next.

It’s hard not to wonder what life must be like amid that moving maelstrom.

How must it feel to go from day to day of such intense emotions, such anticipation, such scrutiny and such pressure to be seen to be having a good time? Where everyone is hanging on your every word and even the most simple of interactions – a handshake, a nod, a smile – is invested with such importance and meaning?

At the best, it must be a very strange way to live. 

And at the worst? We suppose only those who are part of that elite club will ever know.