While millions around the world will be watching the wedding of Great Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton next Friday, few will be as well prepared for the event as a Longs man and his wife.

Gunner Beery has been following the British royal family for at least 20 years and collecting memorabilia relating to the prince since William was a child.

It all began when the Beerys got involved years ago with the National Hemophilia Foundation.

A close friend had the blood disorder, so Beery and his wife offered to contact celebrities and sports figures as part of a fundraising effort for the foundation.

"We wrote thousands of letters asking for donations," Beery said.

That led them to start a collection of autographs and memorabilia from American celebrities, which morphed into a fascination with the British royalty after the Beerys visited England for the first time.

"It's an important part of their heritage," Beery said. "We didn't have anything except for maybe the Kennedys in terms of royal families" in the U.S.

Over the years, the Beerys have brought home royal china, drinking glasses and a wide variety of other items from their many trips to Great Britain. They travel to England at least once a year, Beery says.

Not long after Prince William announced his engagement to his longtime girlfriend last November, Beery began collecting souvenir merchandise relating to the upcoming nuptials. He's already obtained a royal commemorative tea tin, a cup, notepad and pencils from the engagement, and plans to order more keepsakes of the wedding as they become available.

Beery has been searching for one particular cup put out by a Chinese company that includes an embarrassing error. The mug has the wrong prince's picture on it. The cup has been recalled, but Beery is still looking to buy one.

"If there's still one out there, it would be worth a lot of money," Beery laughs.

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