Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf foots wedding bill

May 18, 2010, 12:02 GMT

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf is expected to pay for half of his daughters 1.8 million wedding.

Crown Princess Victoria - who will wed her fitness club owner fiance Daniel Westling on June 19 - is expecting her father to foot at least ten million kronor, equivalent to almost a million pounds, for the big day, with the remainder funded by the Swedish taxpayer.

A source at the royal court said: "We get ten million kronor from the government and the rest will be paid for by the king personally."

Staff costs are likely to be the biggest expense, with information and transport also taxing funds.

The source continued: "Guests need to be transported from various residences to various destinations. All the guests also have to be fed, with drinks and entertainment. Then the palace furniture needs to be rearranged and the old hall needs to be spruced up. The actual dinner is though the largest single item."

It had previously been reported that the royal couple were holding a special wedding concert, with a host of stars set to perform at a one-off show the night before (18.06.10).

It was also recently revealed that Victoria had demanded a £1.2 million makeover for the church she's getting married in.

She asked for the building to be thoroughly cleaned ahead of the service, a painstaking process which requires the church being closed to the public.

Project manager Ake Sanding said: "You have to be very handy to pull this off. You can't lie in on the tree area that is close to it. It's about very small details; wad of cotton, tops, and solvent are what you need when you do the cleaning."