Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Royal Warrants of Appointment


Since we have been in England, I have wondered about a symbol and words printed on the Special K cereal box. Maybe if you click on the picture, you can see the Queen's symbol(with the lions). Underneath the symbol the words say, "By appointment to HM The Queen, Purveyors of Cereals, Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Limited".

I finally found out ......
Royal Warrants of Appointment have been issued for centuries to people or companies who supply items or services to a royal family (not just in England). In the UK, grants can be made by only 3 members of the royal family---the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales---and each one has his own symbol. Once a royal warrant has been issued, the company can advertise that they supply the royal person.
The supplier must have at least a five-year history of supplying the royal family, and the royal warrant is renewable for terms of 5 years. However, it can be revoked at any time by the royal family. At the death of one of the 3 royal people, his warrants of appointment will last a maximum of 5 years, and then they will be discontinued.
It is kind of interesting to see the list of the companies/stores chosen by the royal family--- you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Warrant

2 comments:

Staci said...

Interesting. So I wonder if the Queen does the Special K diet? ;)

Steve and Joan said...

I would like to give my royal endorsement to Taco Bueno!