A Royal Wedding Gift Bag Sold On Ebay for $28,500
While 600 of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's guests got to sit in the nave and the quire of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle (we're looking at you Oprah, Amal, George, Priyanka, Cary Mulligan, Idris Elba, the cast of Suits and many more), others were simply invited to join the couple on the grounds of Windsor Castle. The 2,000+ guests were invited based on their contribution to charities Meghan and Harry care much about, as well as their survival in tragedies like the Manchester bombing and the Grenfell fire.
These members of the Commonwealth were treated to Harry and Meghan's exit from their ceremony, their romantic send-off, their first kiss as newlyweds, and their carriage ride through the streets of Windsor. What we missed in all the video coverage of the royal wedding fanfare is that much like any big-deal event–the Oscars, fashion week, a wedding, you name it–the Palace opted to treat their guests to goodie bags to commemorate the occasion.
The bags were handed out on the streets and in front of the Chapel, but those select 600 guests who were invited to sit inside for the ceremony were not gifted, mainly because their gift was the most coveted invitation in the history of time, and the chance to potentially meet Oprah. The contents of the goodie bags, according to Vanity Fair, included a badge marked with “Windsor Castle Spectator,” one large chocolate coin, some shortbread, a magnet, a water bottle featuring the Windsor Castle insignia, a coupon to royalcollectionshop.co.uk (which provided some of the contents of the bag), a site map, a wristband, and a parking pass.
While the option to enjoy the bag's contents in the privacy of your home seems tempting, many spectators hit Ebay and other resell sites, hoping to get top dollar for their piece of the royal wedding. Most sold for a couple of thousand dollars or less–and one is still currently on sale for $500, should you be looking to snag one–but one particular goodie bag sold by Claire Oliver, a London-based Human Resources manager whose presence on the grounds of Windsor Castle for the wedding was verified, sold for £21,000. That's about $28,5000. Or a car.
Oliver, who is originally from Cambridge, according to the Daily Mail, works at for Troup Bywaters, an engineering group heavily involved in offering apprenticeships to get more young people in the workforce, which is a cause very close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. While the winning bid was well beyond what other royal goodie bags were going for, Oliver tells the Daily Mail that she received no payment from the sale, given that the bid was unable to be authenticated.
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