Sausages, trees and fridges: The curious world of royal warrants

While many holders of royal warrants to supply the Queen are household names, some of the 600 or so firms which currently hold the honour are small businesses which provide less obvious products and services. What does holding a Royal Warrant of Appointment - to give its full title - mean to these companies?

Musk's, of Newmarket, is the only firm to hold a royal warrant for sausages.

The company has held royal warrants for more than 100 years, supplying sausages to King George V, Edward, Prince of Wales, the late Queen Mother and, since 2005, the Queen.

"It is a fantastic thing for us to have," says Ed Sheen, managing director. "It sets us apart from everybody else in a very competitive market.

"It means the customer will appreciate the fact that the standards needed to obtain the warrant are there and therefore it is a seal of assurance and quality for the consumer."

Supplying the Queen with sausages, he says, works on a fairly "fluid" basis with no standing order as such.

And in case anybody is wondering, yes, the Queen does pay for her sausages.

"It is an honour and a privilege to supply Her Majesty," he says.

The company does not make up special batches for the Queen. The sausages supplied to the royal caterers will be exactly the same as those supplied to a local butchers, either loose or stringed.

"They will be the same ingredients that we've been using for 137 years."

The one royal customer for whom special batches were made was the Queen Mother.

For her sausages, Mr Sheen said, Musk's was asked to double the amount of spice ingredients.

What the rest of the family made of her doubly spiced sausages might never be known.

On a small industrial park off the busy A127 at Rayleigh, in Essex, there's a family-run business called European Refrigeration.

Run by Derek Murton and his son David, the company, founded in 2007, has a turnover of less than £1m.

It manages commercial refrigeration in schools, hotels, local government buildings and restaurants.

Oh, and Buckingham Palace.

"A few years ago we had a call asking us if we would like to do some work there," says Derek Murton, who owns European Refrigeration. "We said 'yes'."

As a provider of services to The Queen, the firm was eligible to apply for a royal warrant.

About 18 months after the company applied, it received a letter telling them they had been successful.

Opening that letter about four and a half years ago remains a source of immense pride to Mr Murton.

"It is a great privilege when you receive it," he says. "It shows you are a company of excellence."

He says existing clients wondered whether the royal warrant would mean he would put their prices up.

"We didn't, of course," he says. "We are a small family-run business that prides itself on the quality of the work we do."

BBA Shipping in Newmarket specialises in the transportation of horses.

One of its clients is the Queen.

"You have to be in continuous service for five or six years and prove that you have provided a good level of service and that you are environmentally sustainable," says BBA Shipping's director Sandra Harper.

"Getting a royal warrant is quite a long process but it is very exciting.

"And it is lovely to be rewarded in that way," she says. "Everybody here was thrilled when we received the royal warrant."

Ms Harper told how her firm transports the Queen's horses from Sandringham to the different locations they need to get to.

"All of our customers are treated the same whether it is the Queen's horses or anybody else's.

"We do quite a lot of work with the horse racing industry and we are used to transporting thoroughbreds, but can transport any horse right up to shire horses."

About two decades ago, Barcham Trees in Soham, Cambridgeshire, received a referral from one of the head gardeners from the Royal Estate. Since then, Barcham's trees have been planted across the Royal Estates, including at Sandringham and Balmoral.

"They approached us and asked if we could come along and we got to supply them with trees," says Mike Glover, the managing director at Barcham. "You've got to supply your products for about five years in a row, after which you can apply for a royal warrant."

The company also has a royal warrant to provide trees to the Prince of Wales.

"We are incredibly lucky and very honoured," says Mr Glover, "that our product is well liked by the Royal Family. We love our trees and so do they."

The firm holds more than 570 varieties of trees and a key part of its job is picking the right tree for the location, climate and soil type.

Asked whether the Queen has a favourite tree, Mr Glover says: "I honestly don't know."

"When I am asked what my own favourite tree is, the answer is that it all depends on the place.

"My favourite tree is the one that will thrive where it is put."

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