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Souvenir trade loses millions
Last updated at 23:07pm on 14.04.07High Street stores poised to make millions of pounds from the hotly anticipated Royal wedding have been left looking sheepish by the shock break-up.
Woolworths had come up with a raft of souvenirs including the traditional plates, mugs, spoons and tea towels as well as a special mobile phone, fluffy slippers and a computer mouse mat.
One plate design revealed last November featured pictures of the couple surrounded by a gilt edge.
Beneath the pictures was the message "Celebrating the Royal marriage of William and Kate", with a space left for the month, date and year.
The company said it hoped to avoid a repeat of Prince Charles and Camilla's wedding, where it was caught short by the brief engagement period and missed out on £3million in sales.
It had plans in place to manufacture and send out thousands of items from the William and Kate range to shops across Britain within 48 hours of an announcement.
A spokesman for Woolworths said: "Nothing was put into production. We were just at the design stage. We were waiting for a date for the wedding that we could put on the items.
"If the stories are true, then these designs will have to be shelved for the time being."
It was also bad news for thousands of punters who had placed bets on William and Kate marrying. A spokesman for William Hill said it had expected to pay out more than £50,000.
Prince Harry is now favourite to get engaged first, with odds of 1-2 he will beat his older brother to it.
