Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially engaged, and their wedding will reportedly cost more than $30 million .
According to the New York Daily News , security costs for the highly esteemed wedding will take a large portion of the money and will be geared toward security reinforcements and paid overtime.
The cost of the wedding is expected to be covered by the royal family. However, an anonymous sum is meant to be provided by the family of the bride as well.
According to Express , the royal family was allegedly looking to avoid any criticisms about excessively spending taxpayers’ money during the wedding. However, given the recent terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, the concerns given to security are thought to be justified.
The wedding cost of the red-haired royal and his American bride-to-be is expected to surpass that of older brother Prince William and Kate Middleton, who tied the knot six years ago.
The upcoming wedding is expected to take place on a public holiday in the United Kingdom, a day that the Center for Economics and Business Research has said will cost the U.K. over 2.3 billion pounds in productivity.
Queen Elizabeth II is expected to receive over 80 million pounds from the British Treasury at the start of the fiscal year in 2018. This means that the Queen on her own can bankroll the wedding if she chooses to do so.
Newsweek is reporting that Meghan Markle’s wedding to Prince Harry will make her an even wealthier woman . The 32-year-old prince inherited over $16 million from his late mother, Princess Diana, who died in 2002 and also earned a lucrative salary during his career as a pilot in the British Army Air Corps.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are engaged, and commoners are SWOONING. https://t.co/jfjPkmOUgD
— Revelist (@heyrevelist) November 27, 2017
In addition, Harry’s official expenses as a member of the British Royal Family are covered by his father Prince Charles’ estate, which generated over $26 million in profits in 2016.
Markle earns over $50,000 per episode on Suits and has been a regular on the hit legal drama for the past seven seasons. However, the 36-year-old actress is expected to give up her role at the conclusion of the seventh season and move to the U.K., the Independent reports.
Now that the Suits actress is officially engaged, she is expected to take up a public engagement role as a member of the royal family, like Kate Middleton did when she was engaged to Prince William.
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding on April 29, 2011, was dubbed the “ wedding of the century ,” according to Hollywood Life . The couple spent $800,000 on flowers alone, and Kate marked the nuptials in a $434,000 wedding dress.
Radar Online reports that the two cakes at the wedding reception, namely a white fruit cake for Prince William and a tradition cream cake for Kate, cost a combined $80,000 , estimated at about $134 per slice.
[Featured Image by Eddie Mulholland/AP Images]