William and Kate a Love Story William and Kate Collectors Items

It seems like vendors in the UK have put themselves into top gear following the announcement of the Royal Engagement between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Not only is there a book available ( Hardback edition on Amazon ) which was rushed into production by The Sun newspaper, but there are an amazing range of other items for sale just on Amazon alone.

If you go to the UK version of Amazon and search on "William And Kate", the search pulls up a staggering 1,517 results.

Ok so they are not all relevant, but amongst the list you have the book about their love story, in both Hardback and Paperback, several other books, and then a host of Mugs, Coasters, Thimbles, Salt and Pepper Pots, Jewellery, oh look even a DVD about their romance.

I even spotted a Tea bag Tidy in there, one of those little ceramic trays where a "lady" might lay her discarded teabag. Of course if she were a "real" lady, she would be using a William And Kate Teapot and matching Tea Service with loose tea and no doubt a William And Kate Tea-Strainer to complete the picture.

Collectibles have always been popular, especially Royal Family (or in the case of the USA Presidential) collectibles.

My Grandmother used to collect limited edition plates and cups for coronations, and I still have a few of them from the 1930's up through to Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953.

But now with the advent of the internet and online shopping, plus the ability for people to design and manufacture their own items online, the number of commemorative items for an event like a Royal Engagement or a Royal Wedding has spiralled almost out of control.

I suppose in a way this is a good thing though, as long as people don't try and make money illegally by using images and logos that are protected under copyright, and controlling this will be a huge problem no doubt.

But you can't blame people for using the internet to try and become entrepreneurs, and the internet has given many very talented artists and designers the ability to be creative and to express their talents.

So far we are seeing the usual books, mugs, plates, thimbles plus photos, posters and calendars, but I wonder what really original items and designs we might see in time for the Royal Wedding on 29^th April 2011.