Royal Wedding tea towels unveiled

LONDON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Britain's Royal Household announced the design for the Royal Wedding tea towels, reversing an earlier statement saying there would be no such items.

The Royal Collection said the official tea towels, which a statement late last year said would not be manufactured, will bear the initials of Prince William and fiancee Catherine Middleton as well as the prince's coronet, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

Nuala McGourty, head of the Royal Collection's retail division, said the tea towels will sell for about $12 each and will be the latest in an already quick-selling line of Royal Wedding items. McGourty said demand for a China plate bearing the same design as the towel has been "about 30 times what we anticipated."

"It certainly has captured the imagination of the country," McGourty said of the upcoming April wedding. "The spirit of the occasion is very hard to anticipate but how everybody is feeling about this is very positive. We are getting such positive feedback on the phone from customers and people coming in to our shops."