Royal Honeymoon

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I imagine organising royal honeymoons used to be quite straightforward.   A quick chat with Ma’am and the Royal Yacht would be given a swift polish and sent to a reasonably nice location to wait for the happy couple; Charles and Diana joined the yacht in Gibraltar and cruised the Med for a week before flying back to Scotland and Balmoral; Andrew and Sarah headed for the Azores and then sailed the Atlantic for five days.

 What now though for Wills and Kate?  Grandma’am has long since sold off the family ferry to pay off the tax man, leaving the young couple with something of a dilemma.  I can imagine them walking arm in arm into their local travel agent (Thomas Cook in Windsor I guess) and running through their requirements with the consultant: Somewhere nice and hot, not too ostentatious, good beach, connecting rooms (for the butler), British pub nearby.  No need to worry about the flight, we have our own plane.

Maybe Will has seen Jamie Redknapp kicking his football around the beach in his suit and convinced himself that a good value four star all inclusive in Spain would fit the bill perfectly: would be ‘it’.  William Hill though think it’s unlikely; the odds of Magaluf being the chosen destination are 1000/1.  The clever money is on Tanzania (4/1) or Mustique (9/2).  A UK break also seems improbable.  Scotland is favourite at 16/1 with Cornwall at 28/1 and if you fancy gambling on Butlins you can pick up odds of 1000/1.
Wherever the Waleses decide to go you can be sure the destination will be trading off the visit for the next few decades at least.  How many time have you visited a resort and been greeted by a local guide telling you about its royal connections?  Corfu is the birthplace of Prince Phillip; Kenya is where Elizabeth was when she found out she was to be Queen; Klosters is the Royal Ski resort of choice.

 I’m not always convinced that these royal connections are absolutely true.  Anyone who’s ever been to Mauritius will have been confidently told that it was the location of Andrew and Fergie’s honeymoon – not true – but you will still find this interesting ‘fact’ in travel guides and newspaper features.  When I was a rep in Ibiza we used to tell everyone that the film South Pacific was filmed there (I’m sure they still do) – not true – why would you lug the cast and crew over to Europe when Hawaii is just a short flight away.
What’s amazing is how these myths stick – it seems you only need a few people to start spreading a good story and before you know it everyone is convinced.  Funnily enough I heard the other day that the Royal couple had booked their Honeymoon with Kuoni.  Who knows, it might be true… I couldn’t possibly comment.

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