Prince William Clone Making a Royal Mint

Simon Watkinson

Even as a child in an Adelaide primary school 29 year old Simon Watkinson received comments about his resemblance to the heir of the British throne, HRH Prince William.

Simon says his grandmother looked like William's granny as well.

A civil engineer who has been working in London for 4 years, Simon has struck pay dirt working for an agency as a William look-a-like and is the most successful royal clone in the UK at present. He is commanding fees of up to $4000 a day and is in high demand by corporate sponsors. People hire him and a 'Kate Middleton' just to walk around at parties which is nice work if you can get  a grand a pop.

One of the most gifted artists who specialises in royal look-a-like photo and video shoots, artist Alison Jackson has used Simon several times in books and films. Three Australian TV networks have interviewed him outside Buckingham Palace and he regularly gets swamped by tourists who, if they can't have the real thing, they'll have Simon as the next best thing. The British mobile phone company T-Mobile used him and a bunch of others in a spoof wedding video that has gone viral.

It's an odd thing the look-a-like business.  Jason Thompson (above)from Sydney is making a mint in the USA as HRH The Queen, hosting corporate events. He greets guests on the red carpet upon arrival or arrives with a big entrance singing a song and then wanders the crowd intermingling with guests and chatting. Jason says the number of times female guests courtesy is alarming. (he also does Dame Edna Everage and Steve Irwin).

Jeanette Charles in Naked Gun

Probably the most famous royal impersonator is Jeanette Charles who at 84 has had a lifetime of employment acting as the head of the royal family. Jeanette appeared in numerous films from the National Lampoon series to Austin Powers and the Naked Gun series as The Queen.

She did dozens of TV and newspaper advertisements and was once hired by a Paris based businessman who paid her a small fortune to accompany him in a limousine throughout Europe to get tongues wagging that he was able to get up close and personal with a British royal. The story goes that it worked and he scored  numerous lucrative government contracts in France, Italy and Russia.

Simon Watkinson should be making a very nice living for the next decade or so, even if he does have more hair than the real thing !

Hold my hose: William and Michael Middleton clean the car by Alison Jackson

Breaking news : The Chasers comedy team who scored world-wide fame when they gate-crashed APEC in Sydney as Osama Bin Laden have been banned from covering the royal wedding for ABC TV on orders from Clarence House : Below is the film of the Chasers at APEC: