A Donegal company whose success began with a set of royal dolls to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, has launched a new doll in advance of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan called Royal Flower Girl.
When the William and Kate dolls were launched they sold out within a month. Based on that success, the man behind them, Ian Harkin, decided to move back from London to Letterkenny to set up a company called Arklu, based on research he had carried out with child psychologists, play experts parents and children.
He came up with Lottie Dolls, a range based on an average nine-year-old child with the focus on imagination and fun.
Lottie is short for Charlotte, and was chosen as the name for the range when, after a process of elimination on William's family tree the staff "worked out that the first daughter of the newly wedded Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would very possibly be named Charlotte".
When Prince Charles visited Donegal 2016, he visited the offices of Arklu and was presented with the original Royal dolls and a selection of Lottie dolls for his grandchildren.
The new addition to the Lottie range has been launched to celebrate the latest royal wedding according to Mr Harkin who said that unlike the original royal dolls which are collectors’ items, this doll is one that can be played with.
It is only being sold online and in three shops, Arnotts in Dublin, one in London and one in Los Angeles where Meghan Markle grew up.
