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Quick quiz: what do a broomstick, a Bendicks mint and a vending machine have in common? Time’s up. They’re all Royal Warrant holders. Bendicks has had one since 1962, presumably because certain members of the Royal family are partial to a mint after dinner. Bradley Nash runs the Hampshire broomstick firm his father Arthur started, which was given a Royal Warrant in 1999 for supplying various palaces with traditional birch broomsticks to keep them nice and tidy. And Strong Vend Ltd, a vending machine business, has had a warrant since 2005 when it became the late Queen’s “Official Supplier of Drinks and Snacks”. Because you never know when you might need a restorative can of Coke and a Twirl at Windsor Castle, do you?
Or at least they were all Royal Warrant holders. Because, when a monarch dies, Royal Warrants are automatically reviewed, which means the 800-odd businesses who enjoyed Royal Warrants during the reign of Elizabeth II are anxiously waiting to hear about whether they’ll be granted one by Charles III. And a source who works for one of the businesses tells me there’s been quite a bit of back and forth between them and the King’s office in the meantime, with labels changing multiple times (which doesn’t sound all that sustainable to me given that the King is a man keen on such matters).
Say you’re Heinz, Royal baked bean suppliers, or All About Baths, an Edinburgh bath-restoring company which supplies tubs to Balmoral. You’re fine for another few months. After a monarch dies, there’s a two-year grace period when businesses can continue to bask in Royal approval and display the Royal coat of arms on their packaging and websites. “By Appointment To Her Majesty The Queen, Supplier of Executive Toilet Hire”, says a proud line on the website for Event-A-Loo, a Lanarkshire-based business which has been supplying posh portable loos for Royal events for the past 18 years. But, should the King choose not to give them a new warrant, the branding will have to change.
If you have a few moments and are a tragic individual like me, I recommend having a quick flick through the list of current warrant holders on the Royal Warrant Holder Association website. It’s genuinely fascinating. There are plenty of businesses which must help the smooth running of Royal households: various cleaning companies, multiple carpet manufacturers, a chimney sweep, three scaffolders, three tree surgeons and five different pest-control companies.
Then there are the more niche categories – a kiltmaker, an equine dentist, four farriers, a “supplier of Kent cobnuts” and a Royal sausage maker (Musk’s, if you’re interested, the Newmarket sausage company, which has held a Royal Warrant since 1907). I especially like the fact that nine champagne houses have Royal Warrants – Bollinger, Mumm, Lanson, Louis Roederer, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Pol Roger and Laurent-Perrier. Awfully embarrassing to be a champagne business and not have a Royal Warrant, it appears. Angostura Bitters also has the Royal seal of approval, as do Schweppes and Tanqueray.
You can have the Royal Warrant rescinded, as happened to Harrods in 2000, when the then Duke of Edinburgh snatched his back from the department store a month after Mohammed Al-Fayed accused him of overseeing a Secret Service plot to kill his son and Diana. In 2018, Royal bra supplier Rigby & Peller lost theirs after one of the firm’s directors wrote a book mentioning the Royals. Obviously Buckingham Palace was too discreet to say that this was the reason why, but I think we can safely assume that, if you have a warrant and go on to discuss the Royal bosom in a book entitled Storm in a D Cup, you stand at risk of losing their custom.
Some Royal Warrant holders sound relatively sanguine about their status. “I’d be very surprised if I was granted a warrant to the King,” says Matthew Webb, one of the country’s best racing photographers, who was granted a Royal Warrant for taking particularly vivid snaps of Royal horses nudging past the finish line. “The late Queen would have pics of every winner and kept a meticulous photographic record. The King doesn’t seem to be continuing that tradition.” But Webb adds that it was a “huge honour and a great thrill” which opened doors for him.
I’m also worrying about the Queen’s glovemakers, Cornelia James. Some years ago, for an interview, I visited the atelier in East Sussex where ladies in white coats sat behind sewing machines, making gloves for Her Majesty. I blinked at rows and rows of disembodied hand maquettes while talking to Genevieve James, the current owner, whose mother Cornelia had fled Nazi-occupied Vienna in 1939 and arrived in the UK with a suitcase of leather scraps. Norman Hartnell subsequently commissioned Cornelia to make a pair of going-away gloves for the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947, and she was given a warrant in 1979. I’m not sure I can see the King in a long pair of satin opera gloves, but perhaps Camilla or Kate might like a pair?
Will the Royal umbrella makers (Fulton) make the cut? Does the King like Paxton & Whitfield’s stilton enough for the Jermyn Street cheese shop to continue trading with the warrant? And what about Judges Choice Pet Food? The Royal dogs might fancy a change after years of eating the same thing. Oh, what a delicate and tricky business it all is.
Although as one trade expert commented recently, continuity may be a big factor in the King’s final decisions. “My guess is that the default position of the Royal family and the monarch is that they want to keep as many warrants in place as long as possible,” says Paul Alger, the international business director of the Fashion and Textile Association, “so long as there is a reasonable reason for doing so. Because a certain biscuit was Her Majesty’s favourite biscuit, chances are King Charles may decide they’re his favourite biscuits as well.”
A lovely job though, too, to be able to mull over your favourite brands and do them a little favour in return. So I’ve had a think and, if it was up to me, I’d bestow warrants upon Ned Sauvignon Blanc, my mother’s marmalade, and Quies earplugs. Not that the King needs more suggestions, of course, but I thought I’d offer a few in case.
Who will make the cut for a Royal warrant from the King? Only time will tell
Around 800 businesses are waiting to hear if they'll get to keep their royal seal of approval