Roslynd Hadley is enough of a royalist that she's happily hosting a garden party Friday to celebrate the much-anticipated marriage of Prince William to his college sweetheart, Kate Middleton.
But Hadley is also enough of a businesswoman to know that, though the wedding may buoy people's spirits, it's no boon to her company. Since the British government declared Friday a national holiday in honor of the event, cancellations of bookings for the day have cost her busing firm about $22,000 in lost business.
"I am all for the royal family, but when you've got 45 employees to pay and you're losing that kind of revenue, it is a lot of money," said Hadley, whose company, Prospect Coaches, is based outside Birmingham.
"We are able to sustain it," Hadley said of the financial hit, but, "I do feel sorry for the start-ups and the businesses that are still struggling."
With British flags strung up over busy streets and finishing touches being put on historic Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony will be held, this country is getting ready for its biggest royal wedding since William's father, Prince Charles, married Lady Diana Spencer 30 years ago.
Journalists and tourists from around the world have flocked to London by the thousands, breathlessly relaying to readers, viewers, and friends and family at home every scrap of wedding-related information they can lay their hands on.
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