The King and Queen have issued their latest tranche of royal warrants, honouring everything from the royal rat-catcher to Camilla’s hairdresser.
Royal warrants are given in recognition for the supply of goods or services to the Royal Household and senior members of the Royal Family, and are considered a much-coveted mark of excellence around the world.
Almost 400 companies are included in the latest batch of Royal Warrants of Appointment representing a range of different industries across the UK – and beyond – from heritage crafts to clothing and food manufacturers.
The King’s list includes 386 companies which previously held a warrant to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, that he has decided to keep on.
These range from the official ‘suppliers of Martini Vermouth’, Bacardi-Martini, to Command Pest Control Ltd, Dunelm for soft furnishings, Foodspeed for milk, Kellogg’s for cereals, florist Lottie Longman, and McIlhenny as the official supplier of Tabasco hot sauce.
Meanwhile Queen Camilla has issued seven royal warrants including to her long-standing hairdresser, Jo Hansford MBE, responsible for her familiar blonde tresses for the past 30 years.
Despite being married to the monarch, Camilla still likes to come in person to her Mayfair salon for regular highlights – and a good chat.
Ms Hansford told the Mail: ‘It’s a real honour to be granted a Royal Warrant from The Queen, who I have been proud to have as a client for more than three decades.
‘I think it is particularly wonderful that The Queen has awarded it to an all-female owned and run business. It really shows that with grit and determination you can achieve truly incredible things. All our clients get the same treatment. We value each and every one of them.’
There are also warrants for three of the Queen’s favourite couturiers, Anna Valentine – who designed her wedding dress – Fiona Clare and Mr Roy, as well as her favourite milliner, Philip Treacey, and her local vet, Benson & Babb in Gloucestershire.
Royal Warrants have been granted for centuries and currently last up to five years. Warrant holders are assessed against a range of criteria, including sustainability – a cause close to Charles’ heart.
Royal Warrants enable companies to have a royal coat of arms on their packaging for at least five years, although they can be cancelled if products fall below expected standards.
Being awarded a Royal Warrant is considered a huge advantage for British firms both in the UK and abroad.
Owen Burek, of Wrexham-based Charles Owen, who holds a warrant as the Protective Headwear Manufacturer, said: ‘As a British manufacturer serving a global market, holding a Royal Warrant is the ultimate recognition of the quality of our products and service. We have especially welcomed the Royal Household’s increased attention to sustainability in recent years.’
Hillier Nurseries in Hampshire added: ‘This Royal Warrant stands not only as a symbol of the trust placed in us by the Royal Household but also as an acknowledgment of our dedication to sustainability, excellence, and the highest standards of craftsmanship.
In May, Queen Camilla granted prestigious royal warrants for the first time and decided to award one to Fortnum & Mason.
The luxury department store is one of seven brands to be given Camilla’s seal of approval.
Other businesses to gain a warrant include Wartski jewellers in London, who made the King and Queen’s wedding rings in 2005.
Queen Camilla, who is known to enjoy a tipple and is president of Wine GB – the national association for the English and Welsh wine industry – has also chosen to bestow two wine businesses with her warrant.
Other recipients of warrants from Camilla include the London chemist D.R. Harris and Co, the ‘floral alchemists’ Shane Connolly & Co and the stationery suppliers Smythson.
King Charles even chose to renew Parker’s royal warrant, despite getting visibly upset over a leaking fountain pen just days after his mother’s death in 2022.
But not all companies retained their status. Queen Elizabeth’s favourite village butcher previously spoke of his disappointment after King Charles removed one of his royal warrants.
John Sinclair, co-owner of HM Sheridan, a butcher’s shop near Balmoral Castle that has supplied the Royal Family for almost 40 years, said he feared he may have lost one of his two cherished royal warrants because his beef is not organic.
The decision was made as part of a review of 184 royal warrants that had been previously granted by the King when he was Prince of Wales.
Some of those who lost their warrants may not have re-applied, but The Mail on Sunday has established that at least eight firms, including HM Sheridan, did attempt to retain their status but were rejected by the Palace.
The royal warrants have varied enormously throughout the years, with a broomstick company even featured at one point.
The Nash family has been making broomsticks, besom brooms and pea sticks for around 300 years.
They gained the late Queen’s seal of approval in 1999 and Bradley Nash supplied the Queen’s household with around 120 besoms per year from his workshop in the village of Tadley in Hampshire.
But sadly, the firm did not feature on this year’s warrant holder list.
Last October, it was reported that iconic British brands feared they could face losing millions of pounds and King Charles’ seal of approval if they don’t prove their green credentials.
Hundreds of firms granted a Royal Warrant under Queen Elizabeth II were subject to review by the royal household ‘upon a change of the reigning sovereign’ – with eco-conscious Charles looking specifically at their sustainability scores.
Consequently, some of the UK’s best-known brands – including Cadbury, Burberry, and Audi – with a less than clean environmental record found themselves at risk of losing their warrants.
In June this year, Charles was urged to revoke the warrants of Cadbury and Marmite-owner Unilever because of their links to Russia.
Ahead of Charles’ official birthday on June 15, Ukrainian campaigners urged the monarch to strip companies that continue to operate under Vladimir Putin’s regujme of their awards.
B4Ukraine highlighted brands such as Bacardi, Nestlé, Unilever and Mondelez, Cadbury’s parent company, noting their ‘prolonged presence and financial support of these companies in Russia only serves to prolong the brutal war’.
Nestlé, Unilever and Mondelez were not given royal warrants in this latest round of awards but they continue to hold warrants given by the late Queen as of June.
In February, Charles said: ‘I continue to be greatly encouraged that the United Kingdom and our allies remain at the forefront of international efforts to support Ukraine at this time of such great suffering and need. My heart goes out to all those affected, as I remember them in my thoughts and prayers.’
In a statement to The Telegraph, a spokesperson for Mondelez said: ‘Cadbury is deeply proud to have been granted its first royal warrant in 1854 and has been a holder of a royal warrant from Her Late Majesty The Queen since 1955.’
A representative for Nestlé highlighted a 2022 statement which noted a ‘drastically reduced our portfolio in Russia’.
At the time, Unilever and Bacardi did not return the newspaper’s request for comment.