WINDSOR, United Kingdom: On the eve of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, the picturesque town of Windsor has taken on the character of an impregnable fortress.
Every nook and cranny has been scoured and every imaginable security measure deployed to guarantee the safety of the royal couple and the tens of thousands of spectators set to flood the streets.
In a dress rehearsal Thursday for the journey Harry and Meghan will take through the town after the Windsor Castle ceremony, uniformed police — some armed — were out in force.
On one of the roads near Windsor Castle — where Queen Elizabeth II often spends weekends — officers used handheld torches to examine street lights, traffic lights, rubbish bins and manholes, anywhere along the road where a suspicious device could have been hidden.
“We’re just checking to make the wedding safe,” one said as his colleague led a sniffer dog on a hunt for hidden explosives.
Huge barriers have been hauled into place to prevent a vehicle attack and many roads are now closed in the town of 30,000 inhabitants, 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of London.
Number plates are also being automatically scanned and surveillance cameras have been deployed en masse.
Two months in the planning, the security measures are in line with the huge crowds expected.
The wedding is expected to attract around 100,000 spectators in Windsor itself, with at least 5,000 journalists, according to Thames Valley Police.
“A broad range of visible security measures are in place,” a spokesman said.
On D-day, train stations will be on high alert, vehicles will be inspected and visitors can expect to be searched.
No drones will be allowed to fly over the wedding zone.
“Things can go wrong whenever you have big crowds of people,” Chris Phillips, former head of Britain’s counter-terrorism security office, said.
“Terrorism is obviously the biggest threat.”
“You have to treat everyone as a possible troublemaker or terrorist,” said Phillips, who now runs security consultancy IPPSO.
Sent reeling after a series of attacks by the Daesh group in 2017, Britain’s current terror threat level is “severe” — the second highest it can possibly be — indicating an attack is “highly likely.”
But if “everyone can be a threat” then “everyone also can be a positive pair of eyes,” said ex-police officer Phillips.
More than a terror attack, one local seems to fear the hordes of well-wishers set to descend on the town.
Rekha Parker will try to take her daughter to see the newlyweds on Saturday, but will call off the effort if the crowds are too dense.
“If it’s too busy then I’ll go back home,” she said.
“There’s more than enough police but at the end of the day if people are going to strike, they are going to strike,” said her friend Leigh Smith, a 40-year-old mother.
For the royal couple themselves one of the greatest risks is their open-top carriage procession
“You can make sure there’s no room for snipers and things and just don’t let people to get too close to it. It’s the key,” said Phillips.
Totally eliminating the risks on the day is an impossible task, but police have assured residents “there is no intelligence to suggest that the event is a target.”
Local councils have also deployed dozens of “ambassadors,” volunteers who will guide visitors but also act as extra sets of eyes and ears on the ground.
“We report anything that looks suspicious. We’ve just recovered a rucksack this morning, fortunately we could find the owner,” ambassador Bob Gardner said.
The number of police set to guard the ceremony has not been disclosed, but is “probably at least thousands,” according to Phillips.
That is to say nothing of the cost of the security, which will be billed to the British taxpayer.
Windsor in lockdown as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle royal wedding approaches
Windsor in lockdown as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle royal wedding approaches
Sale of Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr’s work sets record at Sotheby’s auction in Riyadh
RIYADH: A painting by Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr sold for $2.1 million at Sotheby’s “Origins II” auction in Riyadh on Saturday, emerging as the top lot of the evening and setting a new auction record for a Saudi artist.
The work, “Coffee Shop in Madina Road” (1968), sold for $1.65 million before the buyer’s premium, the additional fee paid by the purchaser to the auction house on top of the hammer price.
The result nearly doubled the previous auction record for a Saudi artist and became the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in the Kingdom. It also ranks as the third-highest price achieved for an Arab artist at auction.
It was presented as part of “Origins II,” Sotheby’s second auction staged in Saudi Arabia, comprising 62 modern and contemporary lots and bringing together Saudi artists alongside regional and international names.
Collectors from more than 40 countries participated in the auction, with around one-third of the lots sold to buyers within Saudi Arabia.
The sale totaled $19.6 million, exceeding its pre-sale estimate and bringing the combined value of works offered across “Origins” and “Origins II” to over $32 million.
Saudi artists were central to the evening’s results. All nine Saudi works offered found buyers, achieving a combined total of $4.3 million, well above pre‑sale expectations.
Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Middle East, told Arab News at the auction that “Safeya made more than any other artist tonight, which is incredible.”
He said the results demonstrated Sotheby’s broader objective in the Kingdom.
“The results tonight show exactly what we’re trying to do here. Bring international collectors to Saudi Arabia and give them exposure to Saudi artists, especially the pioneers.”
All nine works by Saudi artists offered in the sale found buyers, generating a combined $4.3 million. Additional auction records were set for Egyptian artist Ahmed Morsi and Sudanese artist Abdel Badie Abdel Hay.
An untitled work from 1989 by Mohammed Al-Saleem sold for a triple estimate of $756,000, while a second work by the artist, “Flow” from 1987, achieved $630,000.
The sale opened with the auction debut of Mohamed Siam, whose “Untitled (Camel Race)” sold for $94,500. Also making his first auction appearance, Dia Aziz Dia’s prize-winning “La Palma (The Palma)” achieved $226,800.
The sale coincided with the opening week of the Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh, reinforcing the city’s growing role as a focal point for both cultural institutions and the art market.
Baghestani added that Saudi modern artists are now receiving long‑overdue recognition in the market.
“There’s so much interest and so much demand, and the price is where it should be,” he said.
International highlights included works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a destination for major global art events and collectors.
Picasso’s “Paysage,” painted during the final decade of the artist’s life, sold for $1,600,000, becoming the second most valuable artwork sold at auction in Saudi Arabia.
Seven works by Lichtenstein from the personal collection of the artist and his wife, including collages, prints, works on paper and sculptures, all found buyers. Warhol was represented in the sale with two works: “Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico),” which sold for $1,033,200, and a complete set of four screenprints of “Muhammad Ali,” which achieved $352,000.
Baghestani said the strength of the results was closely tied to the material’s freshness. “These were not works from the trade. Some of them had not been seen since the 1970s,” he said.
