Will Prince William and Kate Middleton exchange pure Clogau Welsh gold wedding rings?

- SKY NEWS report, November 20, 2010

They will one day be Prince and Princess of Wales and the chances are, the weddings rings that Prince William and Kate Middleton will exchange this year will be made from pure Welsh gold.

Ever since the Queen Mother's marriage to King George VI in 1923 rings for Royal weddings have been made from the same two ingots of gold extracted from the Clogau Mine in Snowdonia.

The company that owns the mine says it has had no official communication yet with Buckingham Palace but is hoping that William and Kate will keep the tradition alive.

Ben Roberts, managing director of Clogau Gold:

"The Royal Family have been given, as far as I know, 2kg of gold - 1kg in the early 1900s, then again in the 1980s to celebrate the Queen's 60th birthday. Now, that ingot that they received in the 80's I believe they probably still have quite a lot left because of course there aren't that many weddings in the Royal Family. I'd be confident to say they have more than an adequate enough supply to allow Prince William and Kate Middleton to craft their weddings bands from that kilo."

The most recent Royal couples to have Clogau gold wedding rings are the Earl and Countess of Wessex and the current Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Because Welsh gold is six times more expensive than say, South African gold, typically it is mixed with other gold bullion for sale on the high street. Even still, rings like these will cost you up £7000. Because Royal wedding rings are traditionally made from pure Welsh gold, especially given the high gold price at the moment, Kate and William's rings might just be the most valuable wedding rings in history.

Dickie Arbiter, Royal Commentator for Sky News:

"What's quite interesting in that with each generation and each Royal marriage it's bringing the past into the present and taking it on into the future. So it's a rather nice tradition introduced by the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother."

The Clogau Mine closed 12 years ago because the gold was costing too much extract. With gold now fetching around £1000 per ounce there's a possibility it will re-open. Otherwise, reserves are due to run out in six years time.

It's been part of Royal tradition for nine decades, but future Royal brides and grooms may have to settle for less than pure Welsh gold.

See also: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Royal-Wedding-Will-Prince-William-An...

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Kate Middleton
• Prince William
• Welsh gold
• gold
• wedding
• rings
• engagement
• Royals
• Royal
• Royal Family
• Queen
• Elizabeth
• Prince of Wales
• Duchess of Cornwall
• bullion
• Queen Mother
• mine
• King George
• Earl of Wessex
• Countess of Wessex

[kyledim]

"clogau gold" the company have 0 ties with the royal family or the wedding rings. this is just a hype from them to increase their sales. personally i do not believe they have any true "welsh gold" left. I have heard QVC are finding it hard to obtain proof of this !!. Plus if they did, would u trust shipping it all to china ?. All clogau jewellery is made in china so i belive there is more "welsh gold" in a welshmans fart than clogau gold !!

[journalistgeoff]

contains flash photography from the start and a "trace" of untruth about the owner of the mine. I hereby rename this company Blogau Gold

[Clogaugoldminer]

@jmsmurray51 :126 secs in " the latest royals to have Clogau gold wedding rings etc etc ?"

Clogau gold is a trade name a company! if that isnt claiming they made them i dont know what is.

[jmsmurray51]

clogau don't claim they actually make the wedding rings for the Royals. They just use gold from the same mine. they say as much on their website and brochures.

[Clogaugoldminer]

I see that in todays People magazine " bridal wedding bands have contained gold from a mine in Dolgellau, North Wales, operated by Clogau Gold "

I think this is starting to get in to the relms of fraud or sales by deception, Obviously it must be the press that keep getting it wrong ! and not Clogau gold.

I think they need to start treading very carefuly

[barkerscp]

Wow my padlocks famous



[Rocklover25]

OMG i buy Clogau stuff, I thought it was their mine !!!!!

[Rocklover25]

OMG i buy Clogau stuff, I thought it was there mine !!!!!

[madaboutgold]

They can't re-open the mine because they don't own it, someone else does

[Clogaugoldminer]

Clogau gold keep having press releases with the daily post and others about plans to re-open the mine ?

but wont comment because its a secret!