Royal warrant of appointment

Royal Warrants

File:UK Royal Coat of Arms.png Coat of Arms of Queen Elizabeth II as issued in England, Wales and Northern Ireland File:Scottish royal coat of arms.png Coat of Arms of Queen Elizabeth II as issued in Scotland File:Prince Philip arms.png Coat of Arms of the Duke of Edinburgh File:Badge POW.gif Badge of the Prince of Wales

Royal Warrant awarded by Elizabeth II to Jenners, a department store in Edinburgh

In the United Kingdom, a Royal Warrant of Appointment is a grant made by senior members of the British Royal Family to companies or tradespeople who supply goods and services to individuals in the family. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending cachet to the supplier. Several other royal families allow tradesmen to advertise royal patronage, including the ruling dynasties of the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden.

Some 800 individuals and companies - including a few non-UK companies - hold more than 1,100 warrants to the British royal family. Suppliers must have had a trading relationship with an individual in the family for at least five years before they can be considered for a warrant. Warrants are awarded at the discretion of the Lord Chamberlain, acting as the chairman of the Royal Household Tradesmen's Warrants Committee. Warrants are awarded for renewable terms of five years, though they can be revoked at any time; some warrants have been held for more than 100 years.

Suppliers continue to charge for their goods and services - a warrant does not imply that they provide goods and services free of charge. The warrant is typically advertised on company hordings, letter-heads and products by displaying the coat of arms or badge of the individual member of the family on whose behalf the warrant has been given. Underneath the coat of arms will usually appear the phrase "By Appointment to..." followed by the title and name of the purchaser, and then what goods are provided.

Purveyors to the British Royal Family

The following is a list of some companies that provide, or have provided, goods to the British royal family:

• Aboyne & Ballater — flowers
• Alden & Blackwell — books
• Anderson & Shepard — tailors
• A & F Pears LTD — transparent soap
• Aquascutum — clothing
• A Nash — brooms
• Angostura Limited — bitters
• Akzo Nobel — paints
• Aston Martin — cars
• Auto Glym — car care products
• J. Barbour & Sons Ltd — outdoor waterproof wear
• Benson & Hedges — cigarettes (Withdrawn 1999)
• Bronnley — toiletries
• Burberry — clothing
• British Gas Services - Gas Lamp Lighting and Maintenance
• Britvic Soft Drinks — fruit juice
• Calders and Grandidge - Preserved Timber Fencing
• Carr — crackers
• Cadbury — chocolates/confectionery
• Castrol — motor lubricant
• Charbonnel et Walker — chocolate
• Charles Frodsham and Co — clocks and watches
• Cobb of Knightsbridge — meat
• Colmans of Norwich — mustard
• Cope & Timmins — brass
• Corney & Barrow — wine
• D R Harris — chemists
• Dacrylate Paints Limited — paint and decorative acrylics
• Ede and Ravenscroft - tailors
• Fairfax Meadow Farm — sausages
• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne
• Ford Motor Company — motor vehicles
• Fortnum and Mason — groceries
• Frank Smythson — stationery
• Gallyon & Sons — guns
• Gieves & Hawkes — tailors
• Alexander Gordon & Co. — gin
• Hatchards — books
• Harrods (some withdrawn, others voluntarily removed)
• Harvey Nichols — drapers
• Hayter — grass cutting equipment
• Hazlitt Gooden & Fox — arts & crafts
• Holland & Holland — sporting firearms
• Howgate Dairy Foods — cheese
• Jaguar Cars Ltd — Jaguar and Daimler brand cars
• James Baxter & Son — shrimp
• James Cocker & Sons — roses
• Jenners — furnishing materials
• John Broadwood and Sons — pianos
• John Lobb — bootmaker
• Johnson Brothers - casual tableware
• Land Rover — cars
• Laphroaig — single malt Scotch whisky
• Linn Products — entertainment (hi-fi) systems
• Lock & Co. — hatters
• Mansour — antique carpets
• Malvern — bottled water
• Penhaligon's — toilet requisites
• Petersfield Book Shop — picture frames
• Plowden & Smith — restoration services
• Price's Patent Candles Ltd — candles
• R E Tricker — shoes
• R G Hardie & Company — bagpipes
• Spink — auctioneers
• Spode — china
• Stanley Gibbons — stamps
• Suttons Seeds — bulbs and seeds
• Tanqueray - Gin
• Tom Smith Group — Christmas crackers
• Truefitt & Hill — barber
• Twinings — Tea and Coffee Merchants
• Waitrose — groceries
• William Crawford & Sons — biscuits
• William Sanderson & Son — Scotch whisky
• Wolsey — clothing manufacturers.
• Yardley — toiletries and personal products.

Imperial and Royal Purveyors to the Court (Austria-Hungary) (k.u.k. Hoflieferant)

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne - 1872 to HM Kaiser Franz Josef I
• Baczewski — vodka
• Bösendorfer — pianos
• Demel — cakes
• Sacher — cakes

Purveyors to the Belgian royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Leopold II 1874
• Neuhaus — Chocolates

Purveyors to the Danish royal family (Kongelig Hofleverandør)

• Anthon Berg - candy
• Carlsberg - beverages
• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Christian VIII. 1847

Purveyors to the Dutch royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Willem III 1880
• Veuve Clicquot — champagne
• Van Bommel — shoes

Purveyors to the Swedish royal family

• Ekelund — towels (Ekelund has also provided towels to the Emperor of Japan)
• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne - 1874 to HM King Oscar II
• Gevalia — coffee
• Läkerol — candy
• Marabou - candy

Purveyors to the Japanese Imperial Household Agency

After WWII, the permission system was abolished, but purveyors still exist today

Purveyors to the former French imperial family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM Empereur Napoleon I. 1811
• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM Empereur Napoleon III. 1868

Purveyors to the former Portuguese royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Dom Luis 1866

Purveyors to the former Romanian royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Carol I 1881

Purveyors to the former Prussian royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Friedrich Wilhelm IV 1841

Purveyors to the former Bavarian royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Ludwig II 1872

Purveyors to the former Italian royal family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM King Vittorio Emanuele 1876

Purveyors to the former Russian imperial family

• Farina gegenüber — Eau de Cologne to HM Tsar Nicolaus I 1843
• Smirnoff — vodka

External links

• Royal Warrants explained on the royal.gov.uk website
• The Royal Warrant Holders Association