231027 Collection Digital Cover 1 - Flipbook - Page 82
Reflecting “a commitment to the highest standards
of service, quality, excellence and craftsmanship,”
the Royal Warrant is one of the highest endorsements
a business can boast. Today, there are some 800 Royal
Warrant holders, across myriad trades and industries.
We asked seven of them to share their stories on what
it takes to be a Royal Warrant holder…
In a modern world of celebrity and influencer endorsements, there
is arguably one that still trumps all others: the Royal Warrant.
Now, Warrants are fixed for shorter periods of up to five years, and
rigorously reviewed the year before expiration, making for greater churn.
The granting of an English monarch’s royal seal of approval dates back
to 1155 – when King Henry II granted the Weavers’ Company (makers
of clothes and castle hangings) a Royal Charter. The endorsement was
formalised by 1476, when Edward IV granted a Royal Warrant to printer,
William Caxton; and subsequent monarchs have continued to award
Warrants to their favoured suppliers.
Earning such a prestigious position is far from easy. There are around
800 Warrant-holding businesses today, and about five million companies
on the total register in the UK, meaning only approximately 0.016 per
cent have a Royal Warrant (give or take the small number outside of
the UK that also possess one). Businesses must have supplied goods or
non-professional services – none of which are provided for free – to the
Royal Household for at least five consecutive years, and have suitable
sustainability policies and practices before applying, a process that
takes approximately nine months. Once this is approved, they receive
the right to display the appropriate Royal Arms on their products,
packaging, stationery, advertising, premises and vehicles.
Everything from crowns to cutlery have appeared on the sovereigns’
shopping lists over the centuries, but some of the orders have changed
over time. Unlike Henry VIII, the present King doesn’t have a supplier
of “Swannes and Cranes, price the piece two shillings,” nor we imagine
does he give his Purveyor of Fish “£10 a year for ‘entertainment’ plus
£22.11s.8d. for losses and necessaries,” as did Elizabeth I. These are
perhaps not the strangest of bestowments though, as the 18th century
even saw Warrants issued to royal rat-catchers, mole-takers and
bug-takers.
In 1840, the creation of the Royal Warrant Holders Association cemented
the continued existence of the Royal Warrant as a cherished institution.
Under Queen Victoria, nearly 2,000 Royal Warrants were distributed
during her 63-year reign, more than double the number today, including
Twinings tea merchants and royal grocer Fortnum & Mason, who still
hold the seal of approval today. Other companies have had the privilege
of displaying the legend for even longer, such as Firmin, the button and
insignia maker, and wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd, who both began
supplying the Royal Households during the reign of George III.
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The Monarch decides who may grant Warrants, and previous
grantors have included the late Queen, Prince Philip and the former
Prince of Wales (now King Charles), who, at the moment, is the only
grantor. The passing of the late Queen means any Warrants that Her
Majesty granted become void, and companies have two years to stop
using the Royal Arms, though the current review of Royal Warrants
could also see His Majesty choose to keep many of Queen Elizabeth II’s
Warrant choices.
Though Warrant holders represent a huge cross-section of trade and
industry, they all share an unrivalled quality, authenticity, and, in many
cases, sense of Britishness, not to mention the art of discretion.
