FANCY splashing out £2,750 to celebrate the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton?

The happy couple may not have named the big day yet, but Huddersfield’s souvenir hunters are already on the lookout for memorabilia.

Based at New Street, the Peter Jones store has already received its first request for a commemorative mug – with managing director Andrew Cousins calling the occasion “the one the public has been waiting for”.

The Wakefield-based firm’s crowning glory is set to be the Derby Royal Wedding Peacock.

It will bear the official photo of the real royal lovebirds and will ship just before Christmas.

While it will set you back £2,750, marketing director Nickie Cousins says the limited edition of 20 will be extremely popular with collectors across the globe.

She said: “I’m Peter’s daughter and he’s been specialising in this part of the business since the silver Jubilee in 1977.

“We mainly operate by mail order. Our retail branches do stock the range, but the vast majority of the interest is from collectors from around the world.

“We have known this day was coming so we’ve had the range of products ready. We were just waiting for the day of the engagement and then it should be available in the next few weeks.

“We have an Aynsley mug too for £24.95 but, once again, we’ve been waiting for the official photograph which showed Kate in the blue dress.”

There is a thriving market for collectors of royal memorabilia, fuelled by the limited nature of the stock. There will be 2,500 mugs manufactured and 500 of the lion’s head beakers.

Unusually, the firm was quick to commemorate Prince William gaining his wings as an RAF pilot, also releasing a mug to mark the day at RAF Cranwell.

It’s claim to fame, however, is it was an early outing for his fiancee Kate on a royal mug.

Judging by the company’s plans to mark the wedding, she’ll have to get used to it from now on.

There will also be teddies manufactured by the German firm Steiff and a range of paperweights.

Andrew said their website was being inundated with queries which economically means good news for their suppliers which are exclusively based in England.

Nickie added: “My dad, Peter Jones, is 69 and he’s still fully involved in the business. The pieces do appreciate in value and there’s a big market for them among collectors.

“The thing about a Royal wedding is many more people will want something to remember it by. They want to mark the occasion and they are a very popular couple.”

There is no doubt that it will prove more popular than a recent product that hit the headlines.

The company commissioned a mug featuring David Cameron and Nick Clegg, marking the historic creation of the coalition government.

Nickie said: “While it wasn’t the biggest seller, it was fun.”