Let’s face it:
No one is entirely sure why so many people are excited for Prince Harry to marry Meghan Markle.
She’s really just an actress best known for her role on the light-hearted USA Network drama Suits, while he’s a handsome party animal who happened to have been born into a famous family.
Together, the couple has no real power or tangible influence of any kind.
But while we do occasionally wonder why millions of people have the Harry/Markle wedding date (May 19, 2018!) circled on their calendar, we know for certain why Great Britain itself is excited for the nuptials:
Cold, hard cash.
And A LOT of it.
According to Aimee Dunne, a London-based wedding planner who spoke to CNN, the Harry and Meghan wedding will cost about $670,000 (or 500,00 pounds).
That’s a chunk of change, right?
Yes.
But it pales, significantly, in comparison to how much the next Royal Wedding will rake in.
According to Express, the marriage of Prince Harry and the Suits actress is estimated to bring about $670 million into the country.
We’ll give you a few moments to let that sink is… $670 million!!!!!!
From where does this figure come from? We turn to David Haigh from Brand Finance for that answer.
He predicts that tourism to London alone around the time of the wedding could generate about $540 million dollars in “hotel bookings,” as well as restaurant and pub visits.
Haigh also looks at the way Kate Middleton has boosted various brands (she wears a certain designer’s dress… and it gets sold out in mere minutes the next day) and thinks Markle could have a similiar effect.
“Meghan Markle is an accomplished actress in her own right, with a global popularity and a strong personal brand," the financial advisor explains, adding:
"It can be expected that she will join the Duchess of Cambridge as a great ambassador of the monarchy and British brands in general, especially in her native United States and in Canada where she recently lived.”
Along with tourism, you can expect sales wedding memorabilia to rise exponentially over the next year or so.
Just consider the following items, which are already on sale and whose profits will go to Queen Elizabeth’s estate.
Now imagine the uptick in mugs, napkins and everything else you can imagine after the stars are actually married!
Just by holding their wedding on a Saturday, meanwhile, Harry and Meghan have saved the country the expense of creating a bank holiday.
With so many citizens so interested in the ceremony, there likely would have been a call to close businesses for the occasion.
This could have cost the economy millions, if not billions.
Instead, it just be a regular day off for most workers.
A regular day off that will involve heavy drinking and celebrating, that is.
