Prince William and Kate expected to shine on California trip

(CBS) Prince William and his wife, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, will arrive in California on Friday for a three-day trip to the Los Angeles area that will mix celebrity with charity events, and the royal couple is expected to dazzle Hollywood.

"We have never had a royal couple that have so much celebrity as these two. American girls are obsessed with Kate Middleton - what she wears, what she does and the fact she was an ordinary girl who managed to bag a prince," Melissa Bromley, West Coast bureau chief of Us Weekly magazine, told Reuters.

Reuters reports that this week searches for Prince William and Kate on Yahoo! are up 354 percent and Los Angeles new outlets have been airing features days in advance of the couple's arrival.

Playing into the royal frenzy, the California tourist board is capitalizing on the event by running promotions for the state's castles with slogans such as, "fit for a king."

The pair's California trip will not involve the same magnitude of public appearances as their nine-day visit to Canada entailed.

The royal duo are scheduled to attend a charity polo match in Santa Barbara on Saturday and will finish their evening with the black-tie "BAFTA Brits to Watch" gala, organized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, of which William is president.

The $25,000 per table dinner's goal is to bring fresh British talent together with Hollywood studio executives. The event is said to feature a red carpet and a guest list including stars such as Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman, Reuters reports.

Prince William and Kate are also scheduled to visit a Los Angeles kids' inner city arts project, a meeting with military families at Sony Studios, and a new media trade panel.