Wedding resulted in £6.3m police bill

The security operation for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge cost police more than £6 million, figures have revealed for the first time.

Nearly £3m was spent on overtime costs alone, with hundreds of officers drafted in to help police crowds watching the event in London in 2011.

While next month’s wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle will be on a smaller scale, Thames Valley Police are preparing for around 100,000 spectators.

That will make it one of the force’s largest ever security operations, which will require reinforcements from other forces, including the Metropolitan Police.

Figures obtained by the Press Association through several Freedom of Information requests showed that, in total, £6.35m was spent policing Kate and William’s wedding, including £2.8m on police overtime.

Of that, some £3.6m was paid by a Home Office grant in order to cover “additional costs”, the Metropolitan Police said.

An estimate for the total cost of the security operation put forward by the Metropolitan Police in 2011 placed the figure closer to £7.2m, according to a previous Freedom of Information disclosure.

And while the UK’s national tourism agency Visit Britain said the country experienced a 7% increase in visitors between April and June 2011 compared to the previous year, those hoping for a boost to the wider economy may have been left disappointed.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the combination of an extra bank holiday and the warmest April for 100 years contributed to a slight dip in economic activity.

The policing cost figures come ahead of preparations for the next royal wedding, on May 19, and a row over police staffing levels amid claims that a spike in killings in London is linked to cuts in police numbers.

Picture: PA. Security for the 2011 royal wedding cost police more than £6 million.