Makers of products bearing the royal coat of arms on the current Royal Warrant are being forced to reflect the change in monarchy following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This means companies such as Heinz will have to remove their Royal Warrants and reapply for new ones.
The current Royal Warrant on Heinz bottles reads 'By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, Purveyors of Heinz Products'. Following a successful application for a new Royal Warrant, new signage will then be emblazoned on the products. As reported by Mirror, Heinz is one of 800 food and drink brands that will have to enact the changes within a set period of two years.
Other big brand companies impacted by the enforced change in Royal Warrants include Twinings tea, Bollinger champagne, Fortnum & Mason and Waitrose. They will all have to remove the late monarch’s coveted coat of arms which is proudly and prominently displayed on their packaging or at shop entrances.
What is a Royal Warrant?
A Royal Warrant is a document that lets a company use the royal coat of arms on products and in marketing, in exchange for supplying goods and services to the royals. The distinctive image of the royal coat of arms depicts the lion of England, unicorn of Scotland and a shield divided into four quarters followed by the words “by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen”.
In the case of Heinz ketchup, this symbol was displayed at the top and front of its bottles sold in the UK. According to the Royal Warrant Holders Association (RWHA) , warrants became void when the Queen died. Brands must now remove them and reapply to King Charles III and prove the royal household regularly uses their products. Around 30 Royal Warrants are granted a year and the same number are withdrawn.
The RWHA said: "Amongst other things, applicants are also required to demonstrate that they have an appropriate environmental and sustainability policy and action plan.”
Brands and food and drink firms who were granted warrants by the late Queen Elizabeth II include Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Premier Foods, Unilever, British Sugar, Britvic, Martini, Dubonnet, Johnnie Walker, The Famous Grouse owner Matthew Gloag & Son, Gordon’s and Pimm’s. Around 620 businesses including Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, Barbour, Burberry, Boots, Clarins, Molton Brown, Hunter and Mappin & Webb who were granted warrants by her late Majesty the Queen have two years to phase out products bearing the royal coat of arms.
The RWHA said they could reapply to the new King but must prove they “supply products or services on a regular and ongoing basis to the Royal households for not less than five years out of the past seven”. The UK is currently in the midst of 10 days of mourning ahead of the Queen's state funeral, which will take place on Monday, September 19, and has been declared a Bank Holiday.
The Government says this will allow people, businesses, and other organisations to pay their respects to Her Majesty while marking the final day of the period of national mourning. This Bank Holiday will work in the same way as other bank holidays, and workers have no statutory entitlement to time off for it, as employers may include bank holidays as part of a worker’s leave entitlement.
