Fancy going all out for the coronation by smelling the part? From the royals’ favourite bath oil to King Charles’ go-to classic, these are the chief purveyors ofâ¯fragranceâ¯toâ¯the royalâ¯households.
Floris
Floris on Jermyn Street, holder of a warrant for perfume from the King, is just up the road from St James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace. Everyone says that the Rose Geranium bath oil is a royal favourite, and Edward Bodenham, ninth generation in the firm, agrees. It’s lovely.
And to mark the late Queen’sâ¯Jubilee, the firm produced a new scent, Platinum 22, which is inspired by the Buckingham Palace gardens, with rose and violet on a woody cedar base with mellow tonka bean and amber. It’s soft, subtle and good, I reckon, for both sexes.
100ml EDP £20, florislondon.com
Penhaligon’s
Penhaligon’s is another company with royal connections since the Victorian times, and has a warrant for toiletries from the King. Its new fragrance is a collaboration with Highgrove Gardens, Charles’s country estate and is based on the flowers in the garden, so as near to a bespoke royal scent as you can get. It’s haunting, with the silver lime and mimosa notes oddly reminiscent of violet. £160, 100ml eau de parfum.
£150 for 100ml eau de toilette, penhaligons.com
Grossmith
Grossmith is an historic firm revived by descendants of the original owners, with two scents associated with the Royal Family. It has just launched a special scent for the Coronation, The King’s Salute, which it describes as a “celebratory aromatic fougere”, heady with lavender and citrus. Then there’s Betrothal, rich sensual modern fragrance based on the one Grossmith created for the engagement of Princess Mary of Teck to George V; and the Diamond Jubilee Bouquet, created for the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Over a century earlier, its Victorian Bouquet scent celebrated Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Samuel Gearing, the fragrance guru, describes it as “lovely…fresh and powdery, with lots of Rose de Mai”. Each comes in a classy ridged bottle.
£295 for 100ml and £210 for 50ml. grossmithlondon.com
Creed
Creed’s Green Irish Tweed is said to be the favourite of King Charles, in which case, good for him. It’s a terrifically classy fougere fragrance, clean and refreshing, with green geranium, lemon and lavender over a woody base. This is one that women regularly poach from their menfolk.
50ml, £185, creedfragrances.co.uk
Santa Maria Novella
European royalty of course have their fragrances too. One of the best is Guerlain’s Eau Imperiale, an eau de cologne made for the Empress Eugenie, with the family bees on the bottle. But for heritage, you don’t get more of a pedigree than Santa Maria Novella, the fragrance house and pharmacy long run by the Dominicans of Florence. When Catherine de Medici married Henry II of France in 1533, she commissioned a fragrance from the friars. The result is Queen’s Water, Aqua della Regina, which is a subtle, clean and light citrus-herbal scent. Oh, and I am told that Buckingham Palace is partial to the Melangrano (pomegranate) soap, which absolutely everyone loves.
