THE QUEEN has registered
her two private homes as
trademarks in a move that will
allow her to sell her own
merchandise under the brand
names of Sandringham and
Balmoral.
Sandringham, the Queen's home
in Norfolk, and Balmoral Castle
in Scotland, have been
registered with the UK
Trademarks Registry, a branch
of the Patent Office.
This is the first time that the
Queen has exploited the names
of her houses for commercial purposes.
Like many of her subjects she is keen to guard her
intellectual property against commercial predators,
although there is no evidence that rogue traders are using
the brand names illegally. Among the proposed branded
items for sale are Balmoral venison, glassware, household
utensils and clothing.
Sandringham and Balmoral Castle, unlike Buckingham
Palace and Windsor Castle, are the private residences of
the Queen, run as estates that pay for themselves. No
accounts are made public, but Sandringham, with its farm
of 3,000 acres, is believed to run at a profit, while the
54,000 acres of moorland at Balmoral are a drain on the
Queen's personal bank account.
The Queen's dignity has not been sullied by this brush with
base commerce. The application was being filed under a
company called Flitcham Ltd, whose directors are the
outgoing Lord Chamberlain, Lord Camoys, and Sir
Michael Peat, Keeper of the Privy Purse.
The move is not, the Palace emphasised, a response to
the deal struck this week between the Government and
Buckingham Palace to set the Queen's Civil List funding at
£7.9 million, the same figure as in 1991.
At present the Queen derives a private income from
agricultural products grown on the farms at her two
homes. Her peas and beans are used by Bird's Eye and
her Sandringham blackcurrants have long been an
ingredient of the drink Ribena.
Marcus O'Lone, the land agent at Sandringham, which
has its own gift shop, plant stall and restaurant, said
yesterday: "We have registered the trademark for
products we are currently producing or are considering
marketing under our own name. Having registered
Sandringham as a trademark, we would seek to protect
our own trade name and our interests if anyone did use it
unjustly."
The trademark will be stamped on everything from
biscuits to china to prevent others from using the name.
While there are many companies operating under the
name of Balmoral and Sandringham, none is in breach of
the Queen's trademark because they do not sell any of the
items she has registered.
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BA press chief to manage Palace PR
BY ALAN HAMILTON
THE Queen has hired the public relations chief of British
Airways to mastermind her public image for the next two
years.
Buckingham Palace is expected to confirm today that
Simon Walker, 47, currently director of communications
at BA, has been seconded to the Palace as
communications secretary at a salary of over £200,000 a
year, most of which will be paid by his current employers.
Mr Walker, who was born in South Africa, has been the
public voice of BA during one of its most troubled periods
in recent times. He fiercely defended Bob Ayling, his
former chairman, against criticism over plans to cut costs
and the fleet's multi-ethnic tailfin designs. He replaces
Simon Lewis, who was recruited on a similar two-year
secondment in 1998 from Centrica, the successor to
British Gas.
The Palace last night refused to confirm the appointment,
saying it was "pure speculation".