From caviar to card games, businesses hope for King Charles' coronation boost
From tins of caviar to a celebration beer, businesses are seeking to entice royal fans with a slew of products marking the coronation of Britain's new monarch.
Mugs, plates, tea towels, magnets, cushions and teddy bears are stapled memorabilia for royal occasions and an array of these to mark King Charles' coronation on May 6 are already filling shop windows.
But some retailers are hoping more niche products will also catch the eye of consumers.
In Windsor, on the outskirts of London and home to the royal residence of Windsor Castle, the Windsor & Eton Brewery has created a new ale, Return of the King, brewed on-site from organic ingredients.
"The name itself really came from a realisation that for the last thousand years ... we probably had about 850 years of kings. But ... in most of the lifetime of the people in this country, we've had a queen," marketing director Bob Morrison told Reuters on a visit to the brewery.
"So we wanted to recognise that it was a milestone about returning to saying the king."
Biscuit maker McVitie’s has a limited-edition tin that pays homage to Charles and his wife Camilla's love of nature as well as the monarch's watercolour painting hobby, while numerous labels and supermarkets are marketing teas or sparkling wines.
Brand Caviar House & Prunier has a limited edition tin adorned with the Union Jack and the words "His Majesty's Caviar", while Premier Foods has celebratory packaging for products including Bisto gravy granules and Ambrosia custard.
Toy brand Matchbox is selling made-to-order 1:64 scale models of the gold state coach, a fixture in royal coronations, while the card game Top Trumps has a new "Kings & Queens" version. Others are selling coronation varieties of the games pass the parcel, bingo and charades.
National Scrabble Day and the 75th anniversary of the board game on April 13 was marked with a crown made of Scrabble tiles, to celebrate the upcoming coronation.
British milliner Justin Smith, who has created couture headwear for Angelina Jolie, Emma Thompson and Amal Clooney, used letters and words to create patterns on the structure of the crown.
It was inspired by St Edward’s crown which has been used to crown successive monarchs of the British realm.
"There are words like 'play', 'coronation', 'word'... there are a few hidden meanings inside the crown as well," said Smith.
Reuters
