Unless you’ve been on a deserted island over the last weeks, you’ve heard that Prince William was recently engaged to the beautiful Kate Middleton, effectively giving her the new moniker of Princess Kate. Prince William’s mother, the late Princess Diana, proved that the world is completely enthralled with the monarchy in England but especially their beautiful young princesses. Kate is soon to become the world’s most photographed and watched woman in the world as over 3 billion people are expected to watch the wedding. While all the tabloids, tv stations, and magazines stand to benefit from the insatiable desire for the newest English princess, one man stand to gain more than any, Jon Griffey. Jon has the fortunate luck of being the owner of PrincessKate.com
As a domain enthusiast the obvious thing to do immediately after hearing of the engagement was to find out who owns the domain PrincessKate.com and reach out to him. What I found was a man that is just as lucky as he is smart. A man similar to myself that bought the domain for a site idea that never happened. Now he’s lucked into one of the most desired domains in England. Here’s Jon’s story.
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1. Would you mind giving us a little background about yourself.
My name is Jon Griffey and I live in a small town called Haverhill, England. It’s about 20 miles from the historic university city of Cambridge. I am a regular middle aged family guy and I run a small business in my home town. Life’s good.
2. How long have you owned the name and were you the original registrant?
I have owned the domain princesskate.com for about 4 years I think. I was not the original registrant.
3. If you did buy it do you mind giving a price range of what you paid?
All I can say is that I paid a fairly nominal sum for the domain.
4. What made you want to own PrincessKate.com? Was it to sell the name, put up a fansite or something personal?
Being a businessman my head is always full of ideas about the next venture – often about doing something completely different to my regular line of work. I had an idea about perhaps writing some children’s books after being inspired by my young daughter (who is not called Kate btw) and thought I would get a suitable domain and start developing some characters. On browsing for available names and ideas I came across princesskate.com which had a nice ring to it and noticed that the website had not been updated for a long time and so I made them an offer.
However having bought the domain, being busy with other things meant that the idea never really got past the concept stage. I have learnt that the biggest obstacle to getting a business off the ground or indeed succeeding in anything in life is getting over one’s own inertia.
It’s been one of those ideas that I have put on the back burner intending to return to one day, but deep down know that I won’t get round to it.
I have been hurt by accusations by some people this week that I am a Cyber Squatter. I would remind them that that I have owned the domain for several years, long before there was any suggestion of a royal connection. Also the original registrant had held it for some years previous to that, so it was hardly an opportunistic registration.
5. Have you received any offers for the name? What kind of price figures are you looking for?
Over the years I have had the occasional offer of a few hundred dollars. Have had some serious interest in the past week.
6. Have you ever thought about developing the site yourself and monetizing it?
What a difference a week makes! A royal wedding means that Kate will literally be the most photographed woman in the world. There would seem to be some real opportunities to develop the site and I am considering all possibilities. I would probably prefer to sell the domain and am open to offers.
I don’t think Jon is going to have any problems selling his domain. The demand for all thing Kate is only going to heat up as the wedding date approaches. If I were him I certainly wouldn’t sell cheap, I would hold out for a King’s ransom.
Nice interview, Shane. The lives of royals in the UK always generate traffic. There has to be a mania over this right now, although QueenCamilla.com is first in line for the virtual throne 😀
With all due respect to the Duchess of Cornwall, PrincessKate.com is the crown jewels of domains.
Acro, no although about this. All other royalty moves to the back page with the beautiful Princess Kate now in office. Unfortunately for you, beauty trumps all.
Considering that princewilliam.com and other royal family members are just parked pages it means i wouldnt count on the royal family paying big money for this domain. also, when she becomes princess if she wants this domain she could easily win it in court. she is a public figure so it could be considered a trademark violation. they have been dating for 8 years. its only in the media everyday right now because they are finally getting married. this domain was registered in 2004 after they were already dating in the media spotlight and the current owner of this domain bought it several years after they had already been dating. saying he bought this domain because of his daughter who isnt even named kate is the dumbest thing i have ever heard, especially when he also happens to live in the UK. how is this luck to buy a domain for a princess that people have known about for 8 years? if he had registered this 15 years ago and then prince william just happened to date someone named Kate then it would be lucky. this is just cybersquatting.
Not to appear pedantic, but she’s going to become a duchess. Not a princess
Nice use of the word pedantic. Love that word.
This is clearly NOT cybersquatting.
How do you “register a domain in bad faith” when you register it many years before there is any famous person known by this name? William could just as easily married someone named Dolores, or even been gay –and the domain would have been worth $0.
The domain owner/ entrepreneur took the risk and anticipated the future.
Kudos to him!
This is clearly NOT cybersquatting.
How do you “register a domain in bad faith” when you register it many years before there is any famous person known by this name? William could have just as easily married someone named Dolores, or even been gay –and the domain would be worth $0.
The domain owner/ entrepreneur took the risk and anticipated the future.
Kudos to him!
did you not read what i wrote above? the name was registered a couple years after they were already a famous couple who were dating.
@ Hal Meyer
With all due respect, you probably need to dig a little deeper into what a bad faith registration is. Granted, that the name has been registered years before the wedding announcement was made, but now that the news has been made public, do you really think that the public are going to go to this site and not expect to read anything remotely related to Kate?. Does this now not become a bad faith registration?. After all, how many princesskate’s do you know in this world!.