A piece of the queen: New souvenirs mark monarch's death
Just days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, unofficial souvenirs have rolled out at royal-themed gift shops in London and online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy
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Your support makes all the difference.There are fridge magnets, tea sets and flags. And of course mugs, T-shirts and sweatshirts with the face of Queen Elizabeth II that are inscribed with the dates of her 70-year reign: 1952-2022.
Just days after the death of Britain's longest-serving monarch, unofficial souvenirs have rolled out at royal-themed gift shops in London and online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.
Cool Britannia, a shop selling U.K.-themed memorabilia across the street from Buckingham Palace, pushed its suppliers to work overnight to get mementos ready by Saturday, just two days after the queen's death, store manager Ismayil Ibrahim said. Items depicting the new monarch, King Charles III, were also on their way to Ibrahim's shop, where tourists were buying other royal gifts like queen bobbleheads and rubber ducks wearing crowns.
Official merchandise, however, will take longer to arrive to approved vendors, who have suspended sales of royal souvenirs out of respect for the mourning period.
Based on strong customer demand for gifts for the queenās recent Platinum Jubilee celebrating her seven decades on the throne, Ibrahim anticipates even greater interest in souvenirs commemorating her life and death.
āPeople kept asking us, āHave you got anything yet?ā Ibrahim said.
So he quickly stocked T-shirts and mugs saying, āForever in our Heartsā and āGone but not forgotten,ā bearing a portrait of the queen as a young woman. Another version carried portraits of the queen both young and old with the words: āQueen Elizabeth II ā The Greatest Reign 1952-2022.ā
There was a constant stream of tourists browsing at the shop Monday, and two others nearby, though not many were buying the items commemorating her reign.
Lorenzo Corbani, an Italian living in Bath, England, bought a solar-powered bobblehead figure of the queen for his mother, who was a big fan.
āShe felt she was a great woman,ā said Corbani, 35.
Unofficial gifts have spread quickly online, too. Sellers on eBay are already hawking King Charles III souvenir mugs, badges, fridge magnets, and key rings that say āGod Save The King.ā Amazon vendors are flogging similarly tacky and hastily churned out royal merchandise like Union Jack flags adorned with Charlesā portrait and decals and posters commemorating Queen Elizabeth IIās life. There's even a pet bandana with the dates of her reign.
At Majestic Gifts near Buckingham Palace, Paul Callaghan splurged on a tin of Platinum Jubilee English breakfast tea bearing the queen's picture for 15 pounds ($17.50), which he said was a one-off purchase.
āItās not cheap, but itās limited. Itās never going to happen again,ā said Callaghan, 35, who works in financial services and was visiting London from Dublin.
Now that the queen has died, he decided to buy a memento ābefore all the stocks run out.ā
āBecause, again, itās quite a historic thing. Youāre never going to see a queen live until this long or reign this long," Callaghan said. āAnd not only that, but weāre probably not going to have another queen for another century."
There's likely to be big demand for King Charles III souvenirs, and vendors of unofficial royal merchandise like Ibrahim are poised to capitalize on it, raising questions over copyright. But it's unlikely that the royal family will take legal action, according to a lawyer specializing in trademark law.
āGiven the fascination with the monarchy it would be a full-time job to stop unlicensed merchandise,ā said Charlotte Wilding, a partner at the firm Wedlake Bell.
āI suspect the Royal Family takes the view that it would rather not punish the general public for its āsupport,' even if that support may not be in the correct form," Wilding said by email. āBad press is just not something the Royal Family want to be a part of or risk being a part of, even if they are legally in the right.ā
In the meantime, official vendors of royal gifts are observing a 10-day mourning period. One of them, the Royal Collection Trust, which manages public access to the queenās residences, said on its website that its shops have closed in London, Windsor and Edinburgh and online sales of items like Buckingham Palace magnets have been suspended.
With no official items to snag, Judy Kline, a 74-year-old tourist from suburban Detroit, spent 32 pounds on souvenirs at a tourist shop at London's famed Piccadilly Circus, including several ornate blue and white fridge magnets with the queenās portrait.
āI have some friends who are very envious that theyāre not on this trip with us. I wanted to give them a little token," Kline said.
Kline said she felt a certain affinity with the royals and wanted to buy King Charles III memorabilia but would be departing before any arrived at souvenir shops and stalls.
āThe prince ā I mean the king ā is a year younger than I am. So I saw him as a little kid, and he was like my peer, you know?ā Kline said. āAnd then their grandkids are just a little bit younger than our grandkids.ā
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Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed from London.
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Follow all AP stories on Britainās royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii.