Royal Warrants

The right to display the royal arms of the United Kingdom over the words "By Appointment to His Majesty" is granted to a select few tradesmen who must have served the King or Queen for three years before applying for the privilege. Since George VI has been King for only two years, his warrants are still rare. He has granted them to 34 and Queen Elizabeth to 31 personal suppliers who served them before they reached the throne. George V issued about 1,000 (he had nine bakers, twelve grocers, eleven chemists).* Altogether, including those granted by Edward VIII, there are about 1,375 now in existence.

Last fortnight a number of London firms were ordered to remove the royal insignia because they had not been given permission to use it. Asked to name the offenders, the spokesman for the Associated Royal Warrant Holders replied in a shocked voice: "Such things are never revealed!"

Although the Associated Royal Warrant Holders can crack down by law on British usurpers, the U. S. is a permanent headache. At present the association is piqued at Philip Morris Co. for sporting a coat of arms on its Marlboro cigaret package, thus implying a royal warrant.

* Rolls-Royce Co. tried desperately to get one from George V, but he preferred to ride in a Daimler; Rolls finally got one from Edward VIII, but his abdication made it somewhat less desirable.

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