Queen Elizabeth II just launched her own brand of dry gin made from Buckingham Palace’s botanicals

It’s no secret that the Queen of England is a bona fide cocktail fan, and particularly favours gin as she reportedly enjoys a gin and Dubonnet cocktail every afternoon. And now Buckingham Palace has launched its own brand of small batch dry gin which have been made from the varied range of botanicals found in the expansive 16-hectares gardens at Buckingham Palace. The gin is available at the site for The Royal Collection Trust, which is an organisation responsible for the upkeep of the Royal Family’s most prized possessions and is essentially an online gift shop for the palace. Queen Elizabeth II is said to have personally contributed to the making of the Buckingham Palace gin, which costs £40.

“Lemon, verbena, hawthorn berries and mulberry leaves are among the 12 botanicals hand-picked for the gin in the Gardens at Buckingham Palace, which span 16 hectares and provide a habitat for 30 species of bird and over 250 species of wild flower. 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 official description for the small batch gin reads. 

Interestingly, The Royal Collection Trust is a registered charity and every income made from the trust goes towards the upkeep of the Royal Collection which includes the Buckingham Palace and its stunning art collections. So, the money from the gin will go directly towards funding the conservation of the royal collection and the palace. The decision to launch a royal brand of gin comes soon after it was revealed that the ‘Royal Budget’ has lost millions of pounds in revenues amid the Coronavirus pandemic.