Chocolate maker Cadbury has been left off the list of companies with a royal warrant from King Charles III for the first time in 170 years.
This month, the king and queen granted their second set of Royal Warrants of Appointment of the New Reign.
The chocolate company, which was initially based in Birmingham, was awarded its first royal warrant as chocolate manufacturers by Queen Victoria in 1854.
Mondelez International, which acquired Cadbury in 2010, told the BBC and Guardian that it was “disappointed” with the decision.
Cadbury, and Unilever, which was also stripped, have been criticised by Ukraine’s government for continuing to deal with Russia after its invasion in 2022.
Activist group B4Ukraine wrote an open letter to King Charles in June urging him to drop each company from the warrants list.
But, there was no specific reason given for the decision, which is protocol.
So who makes the list and why?
What is a royal warrant?
A royal warrant of appointment is granted as a mark of recognition to people or companies who have regularly supplied goods or services to the British royal household.
Burberry is also a royal warrant holder.
The king has granted royal warrants to 386 companies that previously held warrants from the late queen, including Weetabix, Heinz and Nestle.
According to the official website for the royal family, the monarch decides who may grant royal warrants.
Today, the king grants royal warrants. Queen Elizabeth II, the queen mother and Prince Phillip were also grantors of the warrants.
A royal warrant is initially granted for up to five years to a named individual at a company, known as the “grantee”.
An official Royal Warrant Display Document is sent to the grantee, providing evidence of the authority to use the Royal Arms.
Who has a royal warrant?
Major and well-known companies that have royal warrants include Nestle, John Lewis, Waitrose, Schweppes and Burberry.
The grants were made to 386 companies drawn from those previously holding a single Royal Warrant of Appointment to Queen Elizabeth II, together with seven companies that have an “established and ongoing trading relationship with Queen Camilla”.
These grants follow 152 royal warrants granted by the royal couple in May, to companies drawn from those previously holding a Royal Warrant of Appointment to His Majesty as Prince of Wales, who began granting warrants in 1980.
The full and current list of royal warrant holders is here.
What can a royal warrant holder do?
King Charles visits royal warrant holder J Barbour And Sons Ltd. (Reuters: File)
The grant of a royal warrant gives a holder nothing more than a right to display the Royal Arms and they are not entitled to claim or imply any exclusivity of supply.
When a company displays the Royal Arms in relation to their business, the Coat of Arms must always be accompanied by the Legend.
This Legend provides the details of which member of the royal family has granted the royal warrant, the company name, the nature of the goods or services provided to them and the head office address of the company.
Who else was stripped on their warrant?
Other famous brands no longer included in the list were Unilever, Elizabeth Arden, Books UK Limited, Angostura Ltd, Calor Gas and several champagne brands.
There has been no clear reason given as to why these brands were dropped.
The Royal Warrant Holders Association writes that a company might lose it if the “product is no longer manufactured or available”.
Other reasons include: “The goods or services are no longer required, or orders have dwindled. The business stops trading. The company goes into liquidation or is declared bankrupt. There is a significant change in the control or ownership of the royal warrant-holding company.”
