Britons’ demand for royal wedding postcards and souvenirs grows months before event

Recently updated on February 16th, 2011 at 09:53 am

With a few months until the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, British tourists and citizens are already noting a hike in demand for print postcards, collectibles and other sourvenirs to celebrate the royal marriage.

The wedding is to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, but last month, following a visit to the city by the Queen, entrepreneurs began capitalizing on the visit.

"Companies offering postcard printing in Edinburgh have reported an increase in demand for services, and royal wedding gifts are available in a variety of Edinburgh gift shops as well as being sold at the official gift shop at Sandringham estate," writes the Minuteman Press.

"Local printing companies in Edinburgh have welcomed the royal wedding as being a call to action for companies who produce gifts and souvenirs," the newspaper added.

While the products are largely a response to national interest, the hike in demand for souvenirs and printed goods more so reflects a public desire to capture a piece of history.

Postcards in particular, with their simultaneous textual and visual appeal, have been used since the late nineteenth century to deliver images of distant lands. Today, as the story shows, postcards are used as sources of nostalgia and traditional sentiment.