Syed Nasir Ershad: Some research said that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s nuptials would boost the UK economy by millions.
Statistics have shown that the royal family has a huge impact on the economy and that the monarchy makes millions for the UK each year. Research also showed that the Royal Family raked in more than £552 million last year in tourism alone, according to Bloomberg.
In the past, there has been a question mark over whether or not the Royal family was cost effective for the UK. The Queen receives income through a real estate corporation called The Crown Estate which gives its profits to the government.
The Royal family receives 15 per cent of the profits. According to the 2016 to 2017 Annual Report and Accounts of The Sovereign Grant, the royal family   costs the UK 65 pence a year in taxes. But research has shown that the Royal Family has a huge impact on retail sales. The birth of Prince Louis boosted retail sales by £87 million, researchers said. Centre for Retail Research obtained their results from a survey of 1,200 people in the UK and discussed likely figures with a sample of retailers and suppliers of memorabilia.
Prince Harry and Ms. Markle’s wedding was expected to cost £32 million but researchers anticipated that their nuptials could boost retail by at least £120 million due to the hype surrounding it. Researchers for Centre for Retail Research wrote that the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would have constitutional, emotional, cultural, religious and behavioural implications for the UK. Merchandise inspired by Prince Harry and Ms. Markle was anticipated to give shops a windfall boost of £120 million in 2018, according to research.
This included memorabilia, food and drink, newspapers, books and fashion sales such as bridal wear. There were already spoons, tea towels and cookies inspired by the couple.
The Royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle boosted the British economy by over a billion dollars (£732million) in just a single day, according to economists. The wedding celebration did inject more than a billion dollar to the British economy in one day, signaling a huge windfall for the country. Lots of visitors, lots of street parties, and people were spending money to celebrate on the day. No doubt people were trying to get the best of time centering that event.
The huge economic influx came largely from money spent on merchandise from Prince Harry and Meghan Markel dolls to coffee cups. Around 500,000 people had gone to the UK in the past few weeks alone leading to the ceremony.
The nuptials at Windsor Castle in England have prompted an influx of spending on royal family-related tourism, retail, restaurants, fashion and merchandise. In addition to that, more than 100,000 people were estimated to have descended onto Windsor on the wedding day for the Royal celebration. According to CBS, they also predicted that the wedding was expected to boost Britain’s economy by more than $1 billion.
One finance guru said that it was natural that Meghan Markle’s royal wedding was attracting a lot of attention across North America, both in her native USA and in Canada, where she lived for several years. But the event’s appeal extended far beyond those geographies. With the recession a memory of the past, global mobility increasing, the pound depreciated, and an incredible media interest in the event, tourist numbers exceeded expectations.
The UK’s tourism industry alone did see an estimated spending boost of £300 million (roughly $405 million) already before the wedding day. The royal wedding was worth roughly the same amount of money in free advertising for “Brand Britain” through international media coverage.