Palace launches new gin – with botanicals from Queen’s garden
AN official Buckingham Palace gin has gone on sale, made from ingredients handpicked from the garden of the Queen’s London residence.
The Royal Collection Trust has launched a premium small-batch London dry gin in its shops, and the spirit will also be served at future official events at the Palace.
Infused with citrus and herbal notes, the gin is derived from 12 botanicals, several of which are collected from the Buckingham Palace garden, including lemon verbena, hawthorn berries, bay leaves and mulberry leaves.
Priced at £40 for a 70cl bottle, the 42 per cent ABV gin can be bought online from www.rct.uk/shop or in Royal Collection Trust shops.
The Queen is a fan of a gin cocktail.
Her favourite tipple is gin and Dubonnet – one part gin and two parts Dubonnet, with ice cubes and a slice of lemon – which she is said to enjoy immediately before lunch. The Queen Mother was also reported to be a connoisseur of the spirit.
The Royal Collection Trust’s website offers up its ideal serving suggestion, saying: “For the perfect summer thirst-quencher, the recommended serving method is to pour a measure of the gin into an ice-filled short tumbler before topping up with tonic and garnishing with a slice of lemon.”
The clear and turquoise glass bottle features a coronet and a ring of flowers entwined in an elaborate gold decorative circle, and has a gold-coloured stopper. On the back is a sketch of Buckingham Palace.
The garden at Buckingham Palace provides a habitat for 30 species of birds and more than 250 species of wildflowers.
The planting of mulberry trees was popularised in England during the reign of James I, and this royal association continues today, with 40 different species of the trees in the palace garden.
All profits from sales of the gin go to the Royal Collection Trust, a charity which maintains and displays the large collection of royal artefacts from artwork to furniture held in trust by the Queen for her heirs and the nation. It will be hoped sales of the gin will boost the trust as it faces financial difficulties amid the “greatest challenge” in its history.
The trust is seeking voluntary redundancies among its 650 staff and has taken out a £22 million loan after predicting losses of £30 million over the next year because of the closure of its sites during the coronavirus pandemic.
Windsor Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and the Queen’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh are to reopen to the public on July 23.