Royal Warrant holders expect to carry Queen’s endorsement for up to two years
Retailers including Cadbury and Selfridges will have to re-apply for permission to use the Royal Arms in association with their products.
After Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Thursday last week, these warrants have become void.
Queen Elizabeth II granted 100 food and drink brands a so-called royal warrant during her reign, a label meaning those companies’ items are permitted to be sold to the royal family, according to the Royal Warrant Holders Association. Such products carry tiny royal crests on their packaging that say “By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen.”
Brands will have two years to stop using imagery of the Royal Arms or have to reapply for a warrant from King Charles III.
Within their applications for a new warrant, brands must be able to show evidence they supply “products or services on a regular and on-going basis to the Royal Households of grantor/s for not less than five years out of the past seven,” according to the Royal Warrant Holders Association.
Companies will also need to prove they have “an appropriate environmental and sustainability policy and action plan.”
Updates to royal warrants are one of myriad things that will need to change in British society following the queen’s death. Among the others: British coins, flags, post boxes, chocolate wrappers, gin labels and attorney business cards.
