LONDON - Britain may be reeling from deep public spending cuts but the announcement of Prince William's engagement on Tuesday brought cheer to many. It is even expected to boost the country's tourism and souvenir sectors. Prime Minister David Cameron described the announcement that William, 28, would marry long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton next year as “a piece of unadulterated good news that everyone can celebrate.” Sitting in autumn sunshine outside St Paul's Cathedral in London, where the ill-starred wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took place nearly 30 years ago, Britons were more optimistic about their son's marriage prospects. People generally smiled when they heard the news that the second-in-line to the British throne had become engaged. “It will cheer people up as we go into the dark months,” said Christopher Fowler, 57, a novelist. The wedding, to be held in spring or summer, will show the level of affection Britain retains for its monarchy, which has recovered its dignity after the scandals and tragedies of the 1990s that culminated in Diana's death in a 1997 car crash after a high-speed chase through Paris pursued by paparazzi. Companies including supermarket giant Tesco, British souvenir vendor Glorious Britain and ceramics manufacturer Portmeirion Group PLC were counting on it to help lift sales as austerity measures bite. “(Tesco) will be helping the nation celebrate with a wide range of gifts, mementoes and products to allow everyone to enjoy the big day and the parties and events taking place across the country,” Tesco Media Director Trevor Datson said. Plates, key rings, thimbles, mugs and spoons will feature among a flood of memorabilia commemorating the engagement and subsequent wedding of the photogenic couple. For Glorious Britain, which usually caters to the millions of foreign tourists who visit Britain each year, the engagement is a chance to tap the domestic market for souvenirs. “Royal events, weddings ... events like these appeal to the home crowd as well as visitors,” said spokeswoman Karen Sharpes. Tourism boost Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets in London in 1981 for Charles and Diana's lavish wedding. The couple's wedding was watched by hundreds of millions abroad, and Britain's tourism agency hopes the new focus on William and Kate will boost visitor numbers. Some 30 million foreigners visited Britain last year, spending some 16 billion pounds ($25.5 billion). About 500 million pounds of that was from tourism revenues connected to the monarchy, such as visits to stately homes and royal palaces. “The monarchy comes under the culture and heritage of UK, so a royal wedding would raise its profile even more so. Research shows that many of the sites that people come to Britain to see are related to the monarchy,” said Mark Di-Toro of British tourism agency VisitBritain. Diana's fairytale wedding ended in bitter acrimony and divorce, but Londoners were more hopeful for William and Kate. With almost half a million public sector workers forecast to lose their jobs as part of state spending cuts, not everyone was pleased to hear about William and Kate's plan to wed, likely to be underwritten by the taxpayer. “I struggled to pay for my own wedding, why should we end up paying for theirs?” Mark Stevens, 38, a researcher, said.
