An article in this Saturday's Times gave a breakdown of the various places around Westminster Abbey that onlookers can rent on April 29th for Kate & Wills wedding. Coming in on the low end of the spectrum, at £60 per head was Methodist Central Hall, which is a 'lecture hall with champagne breakfast for 500 Guests or the Great Hall accomodating 1000 people.' The Lecture Hall is owned by the actual Methodist Church.
However.
On the upper end of the spectrum are the NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) House and The Sanctuary (effectively owned by the Church of England). Both also offer views of Westminster-at a paltry £100,000 for run of the facility.
There are also apparently several places in the vicinity of Westminster that are for rent ('price not disclosed'). I guess it's a case of, 'if you have to ask, you clearly can't afford it..' For the most part, these places are all owned by the 'Crown Estate.' Who's that you ask? It's the royal family themselves. Yep. The very people who are holding the wedding (at the cost of me, a taxpayer, mind you...) are effectively going to make money on the very event they're having.
I've clearly missed the mark. Simon & I shouldn't be inviting guests to our wedding. We should be renting out the chairs for viewers instead!
...why didn't we think of this first?!?
Good thing these Royals decided to hold off their wedding so they wouldn't overshadow yours. I think you should implement the "champagne breakfast" for your wedding guests, have everyone tanked and over-celebratory by ceremony time, lol!!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually speechless at this. I've been doing a bit of research for something, so I know how much money is being made out of the wedding in terms of tea cloths, mugs and condoms (oh yes) but renting out the Crown Estate? Tacky.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Gennifer-yes! :)
ReplyDelete@Expat Mum...it is all a bit bizarre. Though no doubt, the demand is there. I can't count the number of stories I've read about shops selling out of X product (gravy boat?...) in the first week of it being in stock!