EDINBURGH, Scotland, July 29 (UPI) -- The Scottish capital is bracing for its own royal wedding between Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, and Mike Tindall, a rugby player.
While the wedding Saturday is to be more modest than Prince William's lavish affair at Westminster Abbey, the guest list includes Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and a host of other royals. That means taxpayers could be footing a bill for security of 500,000 pounds (about $800,000), The Scotsman reports.
The wedding at Canongate Kirk, with a reception to follow at Holyroodhouse, the queen's Edinburgh palace, is a private one, not a state occasion, and the actual time of the service has not been announced.
"No one is begrudging them a lovely wedding, but they should be sensitive to the fact that it's costing a lot of public resources and, at a time when resources are stretched, I think they could have offered to pay a bit," said Margo MacDonald, an independent member of the Scottish Parliament. "If it had been a State wedding we would have had to accept some share of the burden, along with other cities, but they have been at pains to say it is not a royal occasion."
Phillips, 30, is 13th in line to the throne but has no titles. She is an accomplished horsewoman and a trained equestrian physical therapist. Tindall, 32, plays for Gloucester and the English national team.
The last British royal to marry in Scotland was Princess Anne. Her second wedding was held at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral because she would have been unable to marry in an Anglican church.
