Wow.
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, we all knew that a lot of pretty good things were going to happen.
1. Two people who are very much in love were going to get married.
2. Royal fans would have someone to fawn over other than Kate Middleton.
and 3. Everyone could finally stop wondering whether Meghan is ‘right’ for Harry – they’re getting married lads, it’s happening and she’s amazing, just deal with it, okay?
One thing, though, that we hadn’t hadn’t considered when the pair announced their big news was how much money this royal wedding was going to boost the UK’s economy by.
And seeing as we’re in Ireland, it doesn’t actually really matter that much to us at all but hey, we might as well by nosy and find out anyway.
As it turns out, it’s actually a lot.
According to chief executive of Consultants Brand Finance, David Haigh, Harry and Meghan’s wedding could bring about £500 million into the UK.
He told the Express that the combined expected increase in sales of royal memorabilia and the numbers of tourists who will flock to the UK now that an American is marrying a British royal will mean far, far more money for the British economy.
However, the Financial Times has said that the couple’s marriage is unlikely to make any kind of difference money-wise.
They point to previous royal weddings as examples of this, with Kate and Will’s 2011 wedding actually appearing to “hold back growth.”
