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Parents cashing in on royal couple?
The parents of Prince William and Kate Middleton have not missed the marketing opportunity their children’s upcoming royal wedding presents.
Middleton’s family, which runs a party paraphernalia company called Party Pieces, has begun stocking regal trivia cards with crowns to scratch off and retailing at 3.99 pounds for a pack of 10. The cards, added to a range of products on offer for street parties — expected to be held up and down the country on the day of the wedding — have left the Middletons open to criticism that they are tastelessly cashing in on their daughter’s marriage to the second in line to the throne.
Now Prince William’s father Charles has hit the headlines after a jigsaw puzzle featuring a photograph of the young couple went on sale at the shop of his Gloucestershire home Highgrove. The wooden set is priced at 29.95 pounds, and while other wedding-related gifts are already available at the store, the Daily Mail argues that the puzzle “stands out from a range of more demure wedding souvenirs.”
A spokeswoman for the prince said such items went on sale “in response to customer demand”, and pointed out that all profits from the sales go to charity.
What’s wrong with a royal knees up?
I’m looking forward to the April 29th wedding of Prince William to his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton as a chance to celebrate some of the good things about Britain.
People on my street and the street next to it are considering clubbing together for a street party on one or the other, my seven-year-old is learning a little bit about the political make-up of the country where he was born and a Friday off work in spring in a country that’s pretty miserly with the public holidays can’t be too bad of a thing.
May one moan about the royal wedding?
I may be in Berlin covering the film festival, but I’m keeping half an eye on the press coverage of the royal wedding. Needless to say there is an awful lot of it, and some of the stories appear to be as much fiction as fact, if not more so. The tone is almost entirely positive, with commentators glowing about the young royal couple, her style, his grace, how good it all is for the country, economy, morale, soul — oh you get the gist.
Now there is not necessarily anything wrong with being positive — after all, we are talking about a couple of 20-somethings about to embark on a big adventure (marriage) and we should wish them well.
