Royal wedding fever boosts tourist revenue from £7m to £41m

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Kate and William's royal wedding 'magic' has worked its spell on tourist revenues for the Royal Collection - boosting it to a whopping £41.7 million.

The Collection, which charges the public for access to the palace and Windsor Castle and runs the Queen's gift shops, saw its income rise by £7.3 million to £41.7 million in the year to April 2011.

According to the Telegraph, tourists fascinated by the 28 April wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton - which was watched by billions worldwide - meant there were 2.1 million visits to occupied royal palaces – up 4%.

A total of 413,000 people visited Buckingham Palace last summer, only surpassed by the 420,000 in 1994. Ranges of bone china and tea towels commemorating the wedding also raised a total of £1,047,000.

According to the latest annual report, the palace visits raised £6.6 million in ticket sales alone.

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And those figures are likely to be smashed again this year, as Buckingham palace is expected to see 600,000 people visit this summer - to catch a glimpse of Kate's spectacular Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding dress, which is taking centre stage at this year's exhibition.

Crowds of people were queuing on the street to get into the exhibition, which opened this week.

Tickets costs £17.50 (another reason for higher profits), but it's surely worth it to see what will be an iconic piece of British history.

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