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The Americans are hoping to ride on the back of the Royal couple's association with tampons, revealed in 1993 with the Camillagate tapes -- a recording of a mobile phone conversation in which Charles talked about being reincarnated as a tampon and living inside Camilla's knickers.

The sponsorship, for American broadcast only on the coast-to-coast AFD network, is conditional on there being no reference whatsoever to the product in the UK coverage of the wedding, although product placement rules forbid this anyway. Both the BBC and ITV are devoting hours of coverage to the church blessing to be held at Windsor Castle on the afternoon of Friday April 8, after the couple have been married privately in a register office in the town.

Royal officials remained tight-lipped on the audacious bid by Herman Furman Hygiene Solutions, while sponsorship experts put the value of the deal at between $5m (£2.65m) and $20m.

Scott Blazen-Smythe, director of international sponsorship consultancy Twine, said: "You wouldn't have expected Charles to sell out like this, but it goes to show that even Royals have their price. As long as it is done with more taste than Anthea Turner and Grant Bovey's wedding [at which the couple posed with Cadbury's Snowflake chocolate bar for media pictures]."

Cain C Mankolovsky, Herman Furman's vice-president of global marketing, said that the event was a snug fit with Seven Days' positioning as a brand for the older, more discerning consumer.

"This is a big big day for Seven Days. I am delighted to link the brand with the Royal couple who are a huge hit in America, which we are going all out for this year. This monumental event is a once in a lifetime opportunity to leverage our brand by associating it with Charles and Camilla, who our target audience knows mix timeless class with not taking themselves too seriously."

Mankolovsky said that East Coast hot-shop Randomnoun was working on creative featuring filmed material of the couple, with a "respectful, but sassy" brief. He said that he was in negotiations with the Royal couple about a honeymoon tour of key US "big-box" supermarkets to continue the promotion.

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