You wouldn’t dare attend a wedding without sending a gift, but you’ve got to hand it to Prince William and Kate Middleton, whose nuptials on Friday will be attended by less than 2,000 people but watched by untold millions around the globe.
The royal couple has requested that donations in honor of their matrimony be made into a fund that will support 26 charities in Commonwealth countries from Kenya to Canada, although mainly in Great Britain–a feel-good gift idea for people to participate in the Royal Wedding. (Find out more at www.royalweddingcharityfund.org.)
But don’t worry about Kate and Wills not having enough presents to unwrap. The people of Wales, where the couple has lived for the past couple of years, will give them a specially designed piece of Welsh crystal. The country of Canada, which has been very generous in its gifts to British royalty in the past, will announce its present on Friday.
Amongst the luxe gifts that will flow in from England are a unique present of his- and-hers fragrances that trace their origins back to the reign of Queen Victoria in 1872, when she granted the Crown perfumery the Royal standard and commissioned it to concoct special, complementary perfumes for her and Prince Albert.
Now, British luxury designer Clive Christian, who revived the Crown perfumery in 1999, has been commissioned to create a unique presentation of a matched pair of Clive Christian No.1 Perfumes for His Royal Highness Prince William and Catherine Middleton in honor of their union.
No. 1 Perfume by Clive Christian is one of the world’s most expensive and rare fragrances, with only 1,000 bottles released each year.
But William and Kate’s will of course be one-of-a-kind, befitting their royal stature and the significance of the occasion.
The company says that since it was Prince William’s great-great-great-great-grandmother’s chosen perfumery and No. 1 is inspired by the love of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the unique pair of perfumes will be an invisible connection between Prince William and Catherine and an ideal way for them to pay homage to his royal ancestors on their wedding day.
Not to mention a very sweet-smelling one.
