A Kenyan hotel is charging couples up to $10,000 for a package to watch the televised proceedings of Britain’s royal wedding Saturday.
Couples are to come dressed in their “finest wedding guest attire” to the viewing party at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club in Nairobi, according to a poster advertising the event dubbed “A Royal Wedding Celebration.”
Organizers said the premium package comes with a two-night hotel stay and a helicopter ride to Mount Kenya, but many Kenyans on social media argued ticket fees for the event were higher than the cost of attending the wedding in the UK.
One of the organizers defended the pricing when contacted by CNN and said guests would be getting the “royal experience.”
“We just want to bring people together to see the royal wedding and also give them the royal experience,” Wanjiku Kamau said.
But others said the event illustrated the rampant inequality in the country, where the average consumption per capita of households in Nairobi is less than $3,000 per year.
“Some privileged Kenyan couples will pay USD10,000 for the privilege of being seen by other privileged Kenyans as they watch, on TV, the wedding of some privileged Westerners in a country far, far away,” Adrian Blomfield said in a tweet.
TV viewers across the globe will tune in Saturday to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot in the highly anticipated ceremony.
The couple have also invited more than 2,600 members of the public onto the grounds of Windsor Castle to share their wedding day.
The invitees will be able to watch the arrivals of the bride and groom and their guests and also catch a glimpse of the newlyweds depart in a carriage procession after the ceremony.