Some choose escape as ‘hysteria’ builds

Royal Wedding fever is contagious... so much so that some Londoners are actually fleeing, though it is not necessarily because they are staunch republicans.

While the world’s media is converging on the British capital to cover tomorrow’s big day, which is expected to be followed by two billion viewers worldwide, Londoners – disinterested in strangers’ weddings, anti-monarchy, or simply taking advantage of a series of bank holidays – are making a great escape... even to Malta.

Artist Harry Malt has fled the UK in the run-up to the Royal Wedding, saying he “just had to get away from the hype and hysteria”, although he has managed to ignore the bombardment to some extent and does not want to sound too cynical.

“It is everywhere, on every television station and every magazine. All we’re seeing is wedding-related stories. Everyone is trying to cash in on the whole thing.”

Even though he is not a total sceptic, and has nothing against the bride and groom per se, Mr Malt feels the Royal Family could be slightly outdated.

Like him, he claims, many others are not enjoying the fact that “the situation has gone past the point of moderation and is only getting more extreme”.

While London may be experiencing a tourism boom due to the Royal Wedding, Mr Malt has chosen to spend the week in Malta. Tomorrow, the big day, his plan is to wake up and go swimming – there are no TVs there!

Similarly, like most other Maltese in London she knows, cosmetic specialist Raina Zarb Adami, who runs the Aesthetic Virtue Clinic in Knightsbridge, is taking advantage of the “avalanche” of bank holidays to be in Malta, joining the exodus from the capital.

The fact is that with three bank holidays in a short space of time and just a couple of days off, the English have ended up with 11 days of leave. So many, including Maltese who live there, have packed up and overcome any temptation to join the wedding fun.

Dr Zarb Adami is by no means Royal refusenik and enjoys leafing through Hello magazine. But that is as far as it goes, and a Royal Wedding tea towel she was given by a patient – who clearly does not know her taste – will remain in its pretty Harrods box.

“It seems somewhat wrong to be drying my plates with the faces of England’s future monarchs!”

In a sense, Dr Zarb Adami feels she may be missing out on the pomp and ceremony, including a “good pre-wedding jitters party” in Shoreditch and a barbecue, if the weather holds, on the big day. Instead, she plans to watch it on TV, consoled by the fact that she is avoiding the crowds.

Dr Zarb Adami and Mr Malt are not alone – a survey of 740 respondents, carried out by social networking site CitySocialising, suggested 18 per cent planned to leave the country altogether in time for the ceremony.