Wedding cash-in begins

The first Charles and Camilla souvenirs are already on sale in Windsor and hotels are charging more than £1,000 per night for people hoping to catch a glimpse of the royal wedding.

The Ye Harte & Garter Hotel is charging £1,155 a night for rooms at the front with a view of the Guildhall where the couple will have a civil ceremony next month. There is a minimum booking of two nights, so the cost would be £2,310, including breakfast.

Other hotels are charging a premium for rooms with even a partial view of the route to be taken by the couple from Windsor Castle to the Guildhall on 8 April. Most rooms are already booked up.

The Castle Hotel is reportedly charging a German TV company £3,000 for its balcony room, directly in front of the wedding venue.

The four-star hotel also confirmed it had booked all its rooms facing the High Street, but would not discuss the new rates. However, the Evening Standard understands that rooms which cost £130 this week will be charged at £285. At the three-star Ye Harte and Garter, one third-floor room remains available, for ?2,000, but anyone who takes it is not even guaranteed a view of the couple.

Charles and Camilla will emerge into High Street, Windsor, after the ceremony but will be visible from the room only if they turn right.

Reservations manager Janine Steyn admitted there had been complaints. She said: "We have heard people saying these prices are a rip-off, but we don't agree. It is purely business." The receptionist at the three-star Royal Adelaide Hotel wanted £89 for a room this week, but said it would be ?250 on the eve of the wedding.

"It's a very special event," she said. "Every single place in Windsor is going to make profits over it." The four-star Sir Christopher Wren's Hotel and the Oakley Court have also raised their rates.

Caleys, Windsor's smartest department store, is charging camera crews up to £5,000 for vantage points at its windows. A spot in the stock room is £3,000.

Shops near the Castle and Guildhall are stocking up on souvenirs.

Gurcharn Singh Dhillon, 45, who is selling tea towels, computer mouse mats and pens bearing the couple's faces, said: "I have put up the Charles and Camilla tea-towel in my window in case they walk past and see it. I have only got a few at £4.99 right now, but I have hundreds more coming in next week."