Living ‘happily ever after’ is not the preserve of fairytales and can be achieved by a lifetime of good health, according to a new report out today from Hamptons International.
To mark its collaboration with Disney’s highly anticipated live action version of Beauty and the Beast, Hamptons International asked the British public to select three things that describe what living ‘happily ever after’ means to them. The majority of respondents from Wales said having good health (68%), meeting their true love (48%) and having children (37%) defined their ‘happily ever after’.
Table 1: GB Average
| What Does Happily Ever After Mean? | % British Public | % People Living in Wales |
| Having Good Health | 61% | 68% |
| Meeting My True Love | 44% | 48% |
| Having Children | 34% | 37% |
| Travelling the World | 20% | 20% |
| Getting Married | 20% | 19% |
| Buying or Building My Dream Home | 19% | 16% |
| Retirement | 15% | 20% |
| A Lifetime of Learning and Self-Improvement | 15% | 12% |
| Landing My Dream Job | 10% | 6% |
| Don’t Know | 7% | 5% |
| Other | 6% | 4% |
| Living Abroad | 5% | 7% |
The research reveals that, across the country, it is those who have never been married and younger generations who place their hope of living ‘happily ever after’ in romance. Half of respondents (50%) who have never been married say that living ‘happily ever after’ means meeting their true love; 45% of 18-24 year olds agreed. This is in stark contrast to the already marrieds, perhaps due to already finding ‘the one’: this group puts both good health (67%) and having children (42%) above finding their true love (38%).
The third most popular route to living ‘happily ever after’ – having children – showed polarized results among male and female respondents. Overall, 34 per cent of respondents said having children means living ‘happily ever after’ to them (37% in Wales) but the figure was higher at 42 per cent for female respondents and dropped to 26 per cent amongst males.
Whilst 16 per cent of respondents in Wales said that buying or building their dream home means ‘happily ever after’ to them, this figure rose to 19 per cent nationwide and 26 per cent amongst the 18-24 year olds and 35-44 year olds. Across the regions, the figure was highest in the North East, where one in three (33%) respondents said that buying their dream home equates to living ‘happily ever after’ for them. The figure was lowest amongst people living in the North West where just 14 per cent said owning or building their dream home would mean living ‘happily ever after’.
Lesley Cairns, Managing Director at Hamptons International, commented on the research: “Our research shows the myriad meanings that living ‘happily ever after’ can conjure up for different people at different stages of their life. On the whole, the research suggests that fairytale notion that living ‘happily ever after’ means meeting someone to spend the rest of your life with has been demoted by the importance of a lifetime of good health.
“Proving our credentials as a nation which applauds home ownership, our research also shows that owning their own home remains one of the biggest aspirations for the British public with 19% saying that happily ever after to them means either buying or building their dream home, a figure which is highest in the North East (33%) and the 18-24 and 35-44 year olds (both 26%).”
Table 2: Regional Breakdown
| Region | Having Good Health | Meeting My True Love | Having Children | Getting Married | Travelling the World | Buying or Building Dream Home | Self Improvement | Retirement | Landing My Dream Job | Living Abroad |
| GB Average | 61% | 44% | 34% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 15% | 15% | 10% | 5% |
| North East | 62% | 45% | 35% | 15% | 25% | 33% | 8% | 11% | 11% | 4% |
| North West | 63% | 38% | 35% | 21% | 23% | 14% | 10% | 21% | 6% | 9% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 68% | 33% | 29% | 20% | 18% | 20% | 17% | 15% | 10% | 6% |
| East Midlands | 64% | 47% | 29% | 20% | 13% | 15% | 17% | 16% | 9% | 4% |
| West Midlands | 55% | 53% | 47% | 22% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 12% | 12% | 3% |
| East of England | 52% | 42% | 38% | 25% | 17% | 19% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 8% |
| London | 59% | 45% | 30% | 15% | 26% | 21% | 13% | 11% | 13% | 5% |
| South East | 63% | 44% | 31% | 21% | 16% | 21% | 18% | 15% | 6% | 3% |
| South West | 59% | 42% | 39% | 20% | 23% | 18% | 18% | 12% | 10% | 4% |
| Wales | 68% | 48% | 37% | 19% | 20% | 16% | 12% | 20% | 6% | 7% |
| Scotland | 64% | 43% | 32% | 17% | 19% | 21% | 17% | 19% | 8% | 6% |
The exciting, new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, which achieved a record-breaking 128 million trailer views during its first 24 hours, sees Belle (Emma Watson), a bright and independent young woman, become a prisoner of the Beast (Dan Stevens), only to discover soon that true beauty lies within. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is in cinemas from 17th March.
To find out more about Hamptons International’s partnership with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, please our website at www.hamptons.co.uk.