Buckingham Palace gin could be timely tonic for Royal trust

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 ‘Buckingham Palace small-batch dry gin’, pictured, in its shops, and the spirit will also be served at future official events at the palace.

Priced at £40 for a 70cl bottle, all profits from sales will 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 £22m loan after predicting losses of £30m over the next year due to the closure of its sites during the coronavirus pandemic. Infused with citrus and herbal notes, the gin is derived from 12 botanicals, several of which are collected from the palace’s garden, including lemon verbena, hawthorn berries, bay leaves and mulberry leaves. The planting of mulberry trees became popular during the reign of James I, and this royal association continues, with 40 different species of the trees in the palace garden. The Queen is a fan of a gin cocktail, and 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. Windsor Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and the Queen’s Galleries are to reopen on July 23.