In the final days before the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Britain is making the final preparations for celebrating the royal wedding.
The nation’s retailers have been working round the clock to provide a dizzying array of royal wedding memorabilia, some of the items more surprising than others.
What’s on offer?
One perhaps more obvious piece of memorabilia is the official commemorative china from the Royal Collection.
Commissioned exclusively by Buckingham Palace, mugs and teapots are designed with the couple’s initials tied together with white ribbon, underneath the coronet of Prince Harry. The collection also includes commemorative iced cake, chocolate truffles, sugared almonds, candles, tea towels and even an official royal-wedding pillbox.
British legacy brand Fortnum and Mason, founded in 1707, has released a Royal Wedding 2018 collection of different picnic hampers with champagne, chocolates, crockery and traditional British spreads and condiments, as well as a range of crockery including tea sets and coasters with the couple’s initials written by hand in 22-carat gold and platinum.
There are of course, less formal wedding souvenirs available.
Yorkshire butcher HECK has created a special sausage in honor of Harry and Meghan. The Majestic Sausage is made with “sweet ginger” and “American mustard”.
On a similar theme, well-loved English crisp brand Tyrrells has launched wedding-inspired “Ginger & Sparkle” flavored parsnip crisps.
A brewery based in Windsor where the wedding will take place is also combining the couple’s respective heritages with a new launch.
“Harry & Meghan’s Windsor Knot” is a pale ale made from barley grown in Windsor’s royal farm, to represent Harry, and combined with hops from the U.S. West Coast in honor of Meghan’s Californian roots.
“With the authenticity of being brewed here in Windsor in the shadow of Windsor Castle, using local ingredients, it has got fantastic appeal,” said Will Calvert, 60, one of the directors of the Windsor and Eton brewery.
Other food items are making rather more tenuous connections to the royal couple.
Itsu, a popular sushi chain, has released a limited edition bento box called "When Harry Met Meghan". It includes a regular selection of sushi rolls, but comes with a competition for a royal overnight stay at the Shangri-La at the Shard Hotel in London for lucky winners.
To celebrate the royal wedding we’ve launched the limited edition bento box When Harry met Meghan And you can WIN a royal overnight stay in @ShangriLaShard by entering our competition on Instagram (@ItsuOfficial). 1/2 pic.twitter.com/OTTSaVFBam
— itsu (@ItsuOfficial) May 8, 2018
And finally, a standout product that, once seen, you can guarantee will never be unseen.
Bags of Love, a U.K. printing company, is encouraging customers to upload pictures of Harry and Meghan to make royal wedding swimsuits.
Of course you can now get Harry and Meghan swimsuits ???????????? https://t.co/2gRPcl8Ew4 Thanks for featuring us @MetroUK ??@MirandaLarbi #RoyalWedding2018 #royalwedding #harryandmeghan pic.twitter.com/53LGLjtk6J
— Bagsoflove (@BagsofloveUk) May 11, 2018
