A generation ago it was all about the search for The One…and the intense happiness and pain that so often goes with it.
But such romance – the theme of countless novels, poems and songs – is dying out, according to historian Lucy Worsley.
And the BBC presenter knows exactly where to lay the blame. Dating apps.
Miss Worsley, 41, said the likes of Tinder meant it was easier than ever for couples to enter into relationships, meaning lasting love is being replaced by ‘bored singletons looking for one-night stands’ on their mobiles.
Tinder is a smartphone app that uses GPS technology to scan for other users nearby. Users can set criteria based on age and distance from their location and then decide whether they like the look of them from their photographs.
Speaking ahead of her new BBC series on the history of romantic fiction, Dr Worsley – who wed architect Mark Hines in 2011 – told Radio Times: ‘Is romance dead? I fear it is.
‘How could Jane Austen have written her novels about the slow, exquisite torture of love in an age of Grindr and Tinder, when bored singletons search for one-night stands with a few clicks of their mobiles?
‘Austen’s heroines worked hard to find The One by overcoming obstacles of social class, parental disapproval and the law. But these days it’s far too easy for romance to flourish.
‘Our approval of same-sex marriage shows that finding a soul mate is considered a right that should be freely available to everyone.
‘That’s surely good for society, but bad for the writers of romantic fiction, the genre that has given us the happiest and most enjoyable of books and films.
‘As we see in period dramas, it’s when there are terrible obstacles between couples that romance thrives best.
‘Despite the fading of romance in real life, it’s still alive and well in our dreams. Many of us grew up expecting to fall in love, get married and have children – in that order. Although lots of people’s lives no longer follow that narrative, so many of our books and films still assume it’s the right way to live.’
Earlier this year it was revealed that the Tinder app has been downloaded more than 50million times since it launched in 2012, and matches around 26million would-be couples every 24 hours.
Around 38 per cent are aged between 16 and 24, and 45 per cent fall in the 25 to 34 bracket. Just 4 per cent are over 45.
Miss Worsley has presented programmes such as Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls in 2012, and The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain. Fellow historian David Starkey previously likened her representation of Tudor history to a ‘soap opera’ by focusing on the marriages of Henry VIII, adding ‘it’s what you expect from feminised history, the fact that so many of the writers who write about this are women and so much of their audience is a female audience’.
However Dr Worsley hit back by saying: ‘This is misogyny. It’s rude, damaging, unfair and pernicious to say that women’s history isn’t important and interesting.’
The first episode of A Very British Romance is on Thursday on BBC Four at 9pm.
© Daily Mail