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Unless you’ve been on a media blackout for the past few months, you probably know there’s a royal wedding coming soon!

The Prince of Wales has announced the royal engagement of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/rtlAnFCWTf

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2017

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Prince Henry of Wales aka Prince Harry is getting hitched! While details about the royal wedding are slowly leaking out (it’ll be on May 19, 2018, at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, in case your invitation gets lost in the mail!), there are still many unknowns.

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Dec 21, 2017 at 3:59am PST

As per royal tradition, Prince Harry will receive a new title upon marriage, most likely Duke of Sussex, as one of the gifts her majesty the Queen bestows upon her grandson, but what about the other guests? This wedding will be filled with the who’s who of the rich and powerful global elite, so this begs the question, what do you get someone who has everything? If you thought it was hard to shop for the people in your life, imagine picking an appropriate gift for a prince! Since it’s a pretty safe bet that Harry and Meghan don’t need a blender or new place settings for their nuptials, after all, they already have a palace, we do have a suggestion for anyone looking for a standout gift for the new Mr. and Mrs.

Whats the protocol for royal gift-giving?

There isn’t one, really.

When Queen Elizabeth II was married in 1936 she was gifted mostly expensive jewelry and precious materials. Former President and Mrs. Reagan gifted Prince Charles and Lady Diana an ornately engraved Steuben glass bowl and Boehm porcelain centerpiece, showing that unlike most dealings with the royal family, there isn’t really a protocol to follow when it comes to wedding gifts. In more recent history, for their 2011 wedding, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge William and Kate asked their guests to donate to a charitable gift fund (which raised $1.7 million for 26 different charities!) but also received items such as a painting, shoes, and a Land Rover. So what could a guest who wants to stand out bring to Harry and Meghan’s wedding celebration?

What would be the right gift for Meghan and Harry?

First, it’s important to look for something they’d actually enjoy. When taking that into account, it’s easy to notice that this couple loves to travel.

On New Year’s Eve 2017, the couple flew to Monaco, a small principality on the Mediterranean that was once the home to Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly known as actress Grace Kelly. Monte Carlo, the coastal capital city, is a prime party spot for the rich and famous during this time of year. The couple has also taken trips to Norway, Jamaica, and Botswana and are allegedly planning to visit the US, Australia, and Lesotho in 2018. During their Norway and Jamaican trips, the couple stayed in Tromvik and Montego Bay respectively, both coastal cities, indicating they love a beach vacation.

With this in mind, a gift having to do with travel and the beach sounds like a great start.

What about a place with a royal history?

Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth’s only sibling, and Harry’s great aunt has a storied history of her time in Mustique, her favorite place to be, where she went to get away from the harsh public eye, something Harry knows all too well.

Prince William and his wife Kate spent their honeymoon in Seychelles because of its gorgeous beaches, clear waters, and luxurious and secluded hotels, although the couple is known to love Mustique as well. The pair has vacationed there many times including while Kate was pregnant with their first child Prince George and after the birth of their second child, Princess Charlotte, when they were joined by Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, as well as her siblings.

So they love to travel, like beaches, and the family has history on Mustique, a villa seems like a great idea, right?

There’s actually a precedence for Mustique properties being given to royals. Purchased by Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner in 1957, Tennant gifted Princess Margaret with one of the most secluded, best-situated parcels on the island where she built her home so this would be a similar gesture. The home she built was her escape for 30 years and was passed on to her son who sold it in 1998.

But Harry and Meghan aren’t your typical royals. They’ve broken royal protocol before and it’s expected that their wedding will be no different, from deviating from the traditional fruitcake wedding flavor (they’re going with banana cake) to having Meghan’s mother walk her down the aisle, this couple likes to do things a little differently.

This is why the perfect wedding present for these lovebirds would be their own private island, near the favored Mustique. Currently, there are two possible islands for sale that would make a perfect place for the couple to create their own holiday paradise, Baliceaux and Isle à Quatre, both also part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The proximity to Mustique (about 4 miles for Baliceaux and 6 miles for Isle à Quatre) means that they would only be a short boat ride away from the glitz and glam, but would be able to enjoy absolute privacy once they returned to their island.

This privacy is important to the royal family who learned just how far a paparazzi’s telephoto lens can see when Kate was unknowingly photographed sunbathing topless from nearly 1km (2.2 miles) away. It was thought that the photographer who captured those images was on a public road and using an extremely powerful lens, both completely legal and hard to avoid. The elevation of both of these islands would make it impossible for a photographer to get a shot from the water and enacting a no-fly zone like Mustique has, would mean that there would be no privacy concerns. Prince Harry, who had his own naked photo scandal in 2012, would be pleased to know that he and his new wife would be free to roam as they like on their island. And what better wedding gift than tropical freedom?

After considering all the above, if you’ve got an invite to the nuptials and a couple extra million dollars laying around, Baliceaux or Isle à Quatre seems like they would be the perfect gift for the new Duke and Duchess.

In November 2017, President Trump announced he would be naming a new Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors with the term starting on February 1, 2018. While the actions of the Federal Reserve affect the daily lives of all Americans in one way or another, not many people know the function of this agency or about its new leader. Here’s your handy guide to the Federal Reserve and it’s new leader, Jerome Powell.

What is the Fed?

The Federal Reserve, known simply as The Fed, is a governmental agency that controls the nation’s monetary policy, supervises and regulates the banking industry, and maintains the stability of the financial system. The Fed is split into three entities that all work to further the goals of the agency. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. Each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks has its own nine member board of directors that are chosen by member banks and the Board of Governors.

Unlike most governmental agencies, the Federal Reserve is not funded by congressional appropriations. Instead, its primary funding source is interest earned on the securities it owns. After payment of expenses and transfers to surplus (think a rainy-day fund with a $10 billion max), any net earnings are transferred to the US treasury.

What is the Board of Governors?

The Board is comprised of seven members who are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The full term for a Board member is 14 years** and members can’t be reappointed. From the Board, the President selects two members to serve as Chair and Vice Chair of the Board. Each serve four year terms and can be reappointed. The Fed meets eight times a year and while the general public usually doesn’t pay much attention to the bulk of their meetings, the decisions they make affect almost all Americans.

One of the ways the decisions of the Fed impact most Americans is that they set the interest rate for borrowed money. For example, say you have a variable-rate loan. When the Fed decides to raise the interest rate, your interest rate will also go up and you’ll owe more money on a debt than you would with a lower rate.

While not mandated by law, but typically upheld by tradition, the Chair of the Board of Governors also serves as the Chair of the FOMC. The FOMC is charged with overseeing “open market operations,” which affect the federal funds rate, which in turn influence overall monetary and credit conditions (as mentioned above), aggregate demand, and the entire economy as a whole.

**Because a Governor can be appointed to fill an unexpired term and then appointed to their own full-length term, the actual maximum amount of time a person could sit on the Board of Governors is just under 28 years. Alan Greenspan is the only person to serve five terms as Chair of the Board of Governors for a total of 20 years.

Who is Jerome Powell?

Powell is a 64 year old former investment banker and an Obama-era appointee to the Fed’s Board of Governors where he has served since 2012. He received a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University, a law degree from Georgetown University and went on to serve as undersecretary for finance in the Treasury Department during George W. Bush’s administration. He is also a former partner at asset manager The Carlyle Group of Washington, D.C. and was a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center, focusing on federal and state fiscal issues from 2010 until he joined the Board of Governors.

Was the pick controversial?

Kind of, but not why you’d expect.

The Chair of the Fed is a politically neutral position, meaning that when presidents and congressional control shift, they typically keep their job. Alan Greenspan, for example, was Chair from 1987 to 2006 and served during the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations. After Greenspan came Ben Bernanke who served for eight years during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, however Janet Yellen, the outgoing Chair has only served for four years. So this breaks from recent tradition but isn’t really that surprising.

What are predictions for his tenure?

Former Chair Ben Bernanke has called Powell a “moderate and a consensus builder” and chief economist at Deutsche Bank, Peter Hooper, has said, “We suspect that a Powell-led Fed would not be a large step away from a Yellen-led Fed and would thus represent policy continuity for markets.” Like Yellen before him, Powell holds many of the same views on monetary policy, especially in terms of a focus on maximizing employment and keeping interest rates low to stimulate spending and investment. This is encouraging to markets, which loathe the unknown and tend to flourish with stability and also to high-dollar value investors and loan holders, such as real estate developers or mortgage holders, who are aided by low interest rates.

Only time will tell the outcome of Powell’s tenure as Chair of the Board, but with the market on an eight year bullish run, the second longest in U.S.history, and no obvious signs of impending trouble he’s got a great place to start.

Sources

Goldstein, Steve. “What a Jerome Powell Fed means for investors and the economy.” MarketWatch, MarketWatch, 3 Nov. 2017, 11:28ET, www.marketwatch.com/story/imagining-life-under-a-jerome-powell-fed-2017-10-20.
Grossman, Richard S. “ A 22nd Amendment for the Fed? Term limit essential.” Santa Maria Times, Santa Maria Times, 27 Jan. 2014, santamariatimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/commentary/a-nd-amendment-for-the-fed-term-limit-essential/article_c1ce9e72-8710-11e3-9d28-001a4bcf887a.html.
Taube, Samuel. “What to Expect From Fed Chair Jerome Powell.” Investment U , The Oxford Club, 4 Nov. 2017, www.investmentu.com/article/detail/56838/what-to-expect-fed-chair-jerome-powell#.Wkape9-nHct.

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