Black market invites to royal wedding

Last updated 07:52 28/02/2011

AP

IN THE MAIL: A copy of the invitation to the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

 Blank invitations to the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton available on the black market have sparked security concerns ahead of the April 29 ceremony.

A man claiming to work for the printing firm which produced the genuine invitations offered a journalist a blank copy, demanding STG2000 ($NZ4193.41) and adding that he could supply several more.

A reporter for the London newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, met the man last week and was shown an invitation almost identical to the genuine document which went on show for the media when the invitations were sent, more than a week ago.

The only difference between the genuine and fake invitation is that the black market version is missing two dotted lines where the names of guests are written by hand.

When shown a photo of the man, a spokesman for printing firm Barnard and Westwood - confirmed by the palace as producers of the genuine invitation - said he was not employed by the company.
"If, after further investigation, I find that we have printed these documents, I will conduct a full internal inquiry," the spokesman said.

News of the blank invitation came to light after the man tried to sell a copy to a Los Angeles-based royal memorabilia dealer, who contacted The Mail.

- AAP