WHEN a Liverpool firm made more than a million commemorative cups to celebrate Prince Charles wedding Lady Diana they sold like hot cakes.

But this time around, the company says, there just isn't the demand, meaning they have only crafted 2,000 for Charles's second wedding.

This is not only in stark contrast to the Prince of Wales first marriage, but also for his mother's jubilee and his grandmother's 100th birthday where more than a million were sold.

But managers at Prince William Potteries, on Edge Lane, say they have made so few commemorating the forthcoming nuptials because royalists have turned their backs on it.

Charles and Camilla will be married on April 8.

Peter Rogers, who has worked at the company for more than 20 years, said: "There is nowhere near the same demand this time round.

"We have had an order for 2,000 mugs - it was from a company in Leeds which is holding a special bingo event on the night of the wedding."

During his career at Prince William Potteries, Mr Rogers, general manager, has seen Charles and Diana's wedding, the Queen Mother's 100th Birthday, the Queen's Silver and Golden jubilees and the Millennium celebrations all produce big business for his firm.

And company legend has it that more than a million commemorative mugs were also sold for the Queen's coronation in 1953 and the coronation of Edward VIII in 1937.

Mr Rogers said: "There has definitely been a decline in the market for this kind of thing but to sell as few as this is unprecedented.

"Retailers just aren't putting in the orders because they don't think the public want to buy them."

Prince William Potteries was founded by its current chairman, Ray Sanders, 63 years ago.

Originally a market stall selling decorated cups to seaside tourists, the company is so called because its first factory was on Prince William Road.

Mr Rogers said memorabilia was just a fraction of the company's business and in the main, it sold ceramic mugs made to order for corporate organisations such as BT.

He added that the lack of interest in souvenirs to mark the wed-ding showed that public opinion was split about the Prince's plans to marry Camilla.

Plans for the wedding have continually met with controversy since the announcement earlier this year.

And the Queen prompted much speculation when it was revealed she would not be attending the civil service.

In addition, the Prince was criticised when a legal oversight meant the ceremony had to be moved from Windsor Castle to Windsor Guildhall.

It is thought that just 30 people, including Prince William and Prince Harry, will witness the marriage and the service will not be televised.

The affair will be a long way from the first time Prince Charles walked down the aisle 24 years ago.

More than 750m television viewers worldwide saw him marry Lady Diana Spencer in splendour at St Paul's Cathedral.

jessicashaughnessy@dailypost.co.uk

Grandmother's home-made fruit cakes ordered by Prince Charles for the Royal wedding

A GRANDMOTHER who impressed the Prince of Wales with her fruit cake is to make it for his wedding reception.

Etta Richardson, 74, was asked to bake the cake following a special request by Prince Charles, who tasted it on a visit to west Wales last summer.

Weeks after the trip a member of his staff contacted her to ask for some more after the Prince said it was the nicest cake he had ever tasted.

The order has been made because the Queen is hosting the reception for Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Mrs Richardson, from Llansteffan, near Carmarthen, said: "I am very honoured but it is very good cake, even if I say so myself.

"It's lovely that Charles enjoys my cake so much, but it was still a big surprise to be asked to bake 20 for his wedding."

Mrs Richardson normally makes the cakes, to her mother's recipe, for her son's market stall in Carmarthen.