Are teenage sweethearts a thing of the past?

New research shows that couples are getting married later in life usually after a few flings along the way.

The chances of being with the same person for a lifetime are much smaller.

The Co-operative tracked three generations of people in their 20s, 40s and 60s, and found that four out of five couples over the age of 60 were married before they were 25 years old, compared with one in seven under the age of 30.

So as we’re waiting longer to find the right person and have a family, there are going to be fewer young grandparents around than in previous years.

Prince George who was visited by his lively looking granny and grandpa Carole and Michael Middleton in hospital last week may well be the last generation to have fit and energetic grandparents.

When I was growing up you’d have been considered “on the shelf” if you hadn’t found a steady boyfriend in your early 20s.

The dating pool was more limited and there were fewer opportunities to travel abroad.

Most of the girls I went to school with ended up marrying either the boy next door/someone they met at a youth club/Saturday night dancing or in their first job.

We dreaded the stigma of becoming “an old maid”. We all had the big white wedding before our 25th birthday and were mums shortly after that.

In the land of coffee mornings, playgroups and discussions about whether breast was best, our dream was to own our own house, have a car and enjoy a holiday abroad every year.

Today girls have different aspirations.

They want education, career opportunities, fun and travel before finding Mr Right. Who can blame them? If life’s a box of chocolates, why settle for the predictable strawberry cream without giving the hazelnut surprise a whirl?

Because the truth is many teenage romances didn’t come with a guarantee of a lifetime of happiness.

Sadly, for many, the reality was that they both grew in different directions and wanted different things. One or other of the partners changed or someone strayed the rising divorce figures over the past 25 figures reflect the unhappiness of thousands of couples who married the first person they fell in love with and found it didn’t last.

So I think it’s a mistake to romanticise teenage sweethearts as if they’ve found the Holy Grail in relationships.

For some couples, like Wayne Rooney and wife Coleen, it clearly works. The same goes for chef Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools. They’ve been together since they were both teenagers and they’re still very much in love.

But they are a rarity.

Finding Mr or Miss Right can happen in your teens or when you’re collecting your pension. The important thing is to recognise love and cherish it when it happens.