William & Son, the luxury goods emporium located in London's elegant Mayfair district founded by William Asprey after his family's business, Asprey of London, was sold off back in the '90s, was recently granted a Royal Warrant to HM Queen Elizabeth II. The firm (which we wrote about last year), offers high-end jewelry, silver, watches, leathergoods, china and crystal, as well as custom-made shotguns and other bespoke services. The Royal Warrant is awarded as a mark of recognition to companies who have regularly supplied goods or services for at least five years to members of the Royal Family. Warrants have always been regarded as a mark of excellence and quality, and are highly prized. Other firms holding the Royal Warrant include Asprey, Swaine Adeney Brigg, Barbour and Laphroaig.

Every year, Queen Elizabeth II awards miniature bottles of whisky to the guards at her estate in Sandringham. And we'd be telling you more about them – what kind, how much they're worth, how many she hands out annually – if not for a blanket classification issued on the subject by local police. That's right, the bottles of scotch handed out by the Queen are considered a matter of national security.

According to Norfolk police, if they divulged how many bottles were distributed, it would give away how many guards are stationed there. And if Al-Qaeda found out, it would make it easier for them to kidnap members of the royal family. That might seem like an extreme measure of paranoia, but not in the context of break-ins at royal residences in recent history. Aside from terrorism, one man infiltrated Buckingham Palace in 1982, the Queen awaking to find him sitting on her bed. Ten ears later a man was arrested on the premises twice, while another intruder broke into St. James Palace and had himself a scotch. Two years later, a drunken man knocked on Princess Anne's door to ask for directions to the railway station. The embarrassing intrusions have left local police on high alert to prevent further incidents, hence the refusal to disclose details of the whisky distribution. And there you have it.

[Source: The Daily Mail]

This year not too many people are looking for pay raises but the Queen of England may need to ask for a bit of a financial boost. The Queen of England could need an additional £4 million a year to make repairs on Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and St James's Palace. Reports revealed that the royal family spent £6.5 million on travel much of that on private jets to various locales. One of the surprising costs is the £300,000 the Queen spent to relaunch her website.

This year's annual publication of the cost of the monarchy found a less receptive audience than usual as many people have been experiencing a diminishing of their own fortunes in the past year. Some have called for the monarchy to open the palaces up and sell tickets for tours in order to make more money for their expenses. In an article in The Guardian, Richard Bacon MP, who sits on the Commons public accounts committee, said that if the White House could be open for most of the year then Buckingham Palace could be too. This year, Buckingham Palace will be open from the end of July until the end of September.

Sir Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse, defended the family, pointing out the fact that the Queen attended 400 engagements last year. He pointed out that the money each taxpayer pays to subsidize the Queen in her role as head of state works out to around 69 pence (around $1.15) per person. The spokesman for the anti-monarchy group Republic called this technique of justifying the expense a way of spinning the truth. While the Queen did not decided to go through with plans for a new private jet, the Royal Family will be taking possession of a new Sikorsky helicopter this summer.

There's no doubt that homes need regular upkeep and homes of great size and age requires a great deal of money for upkeep. This is why older families in England have been selling off estates for years to those with deeper pockets. The queen gets £7.9 million pounds of public money each year for basic expenses including staff costs and she also has a reserve fund built up by saving her budget but the cost of living and the cost of upkeep is mounting higher than her savings. The queen is expected to negotiate her budget next year and ask for a funding increase. If she continues to draw from her reserve fund she could deplete it by 2012.

Since it first opened in 1961, Barbados' luxurious Sandy Lane has played host to a never-ending stream of royalty, socialites and movie stars. Arguably the Caribbean's plushest resort, Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas, David Niven, Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra and Queen Elizabeth all took sojourns there in years past, while the list of current habitués is no less impressive, including Tiger Woods who tied the knot there in 2004.

The ne plus ultra in exclusivity, luxury, privacy and white glove service is embodied by the palatial neo-Palladian-style main building of cream coral stone set in a grove of mahogany trees on a beautiful stretch of beach in the middle of Barbados' "platinum coast." A chauffered limousine (a Bentley for high-rollers) picks you up at the airport and you're greeted at the front desk with cold towels and fruit punch, a preview of coming attractions, so to speak.

Sandy Lane was rebuilt in 2001, and it's currently in the midst of a multimillion dollar makeover including upgrades to rooms, the spa, restaurants and public spaces. When it re-opens on October 3, in addition to 16,000-sq.-ft. of new marble, one of the biggest improvements will be an open plan, multi-cultural, all-day dining facility featuring a residential-style kitchen in the manner of a Caribbean Palladian conservatory, with a wine store, beach bar, sushi bar, lobster and live seafood tank, a fresh herb garden and a wood burning oven.



The resort's 112 rooms average 900 square feet and feature marble floors and bathrooms, mahogany plantation furniture, private verandahs, plasma TVs and all the bells and whistles. The property features two Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole golf courses, nine championship tennis courts, a 47,000 square foot spa, a John Frieda salon, shops galore (Joan Collins still owes money in one of them) and seven bars and restaurants to choose from. On the beach, attendants will fetch you drinks, clean your sunglasses and even spritz you with Evian water should you so desire.

In addition to the main accommodations, there's also a five bedroom villa that sleeps 14 with a private pool, butler, housekeeper, chef and 24-hr. security guard for $25,000 a night during the holiday season. But if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it.

Globe-Trotter, the British luggage designer which since 1897 has furnished luxury carryalls for the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill, will soon add another formidable piece to its collection: a bulletproof case designed by Ross Lovegrove. Weighing in at under three pounds, it's the lightest rigid suitcase of its kind. Even before this news, Globe-Trotter was getting around: the luggage maker recently collaborated with J.Crew to craft limited edition pieces for its new luggage collection, and it showed up last year in the Conran Shop with a special rolling fashion statement.

The Lovegrove piece will make its debut during New York Fashion Week in September, posing from the windows at Moss. Until then, you can still get the perennial classic, the Centenary trolley suitcase in orange (designed by hand from Vulcan Fibre and lined in silk) at Moss for $1,580. The Lovegrove designed Air Cabin, by comparison, will retail for $3,500.

The Sunday Times reports that the Queen of England is in the market for a new plane. No Air-Force-One-sized jet for the Queen though, word from Buckingham Palace is that they are in the market for a small executive plane like a Gulfstream or Learjet. The plane would also be available for use by Gordon Brown and senior ministers.

The plane w ould be paid for by taxpayers and would include the usual private plane bells and whistles such as catering facilities and in-flight entertainment. The Queen had previously been able to use larger planes provided by the RAF. Also in the past, Prince Charles and other royals have chartered planes or flown first class for their royal tours, which they will still have to do for longer trips. The new plane will be best for short jaunts. The prime minister opted against a larger plane for himself and the royals because of the price. A decision on the type of plan and specific purchase details probably won't be available until later this year.

What's particularly interesting about the comments section of the article is that many of those who wrote in believe the Queen (and to some extent Gordon Brown) should have a bigger plane.

You know the economy is not doing too well when the Queen of England cancels a party, and not just any party, her diamond wedding anniversary party (60 years of wedded bliss with Prince Philip). The Daily Mail reports that Queen Elizabeth decided not to hold the party, which was to be at The Ritz this weekend, because she felt it would be "inappropriate" to hold a the extravagant soiree while so many people are hurting financially. The was to have include the usual Queenly appurtenances including plenty of Champagne and a diamond theme that would have included many glittering decorations with Swarovski crystals. Certainly such lavishness with a country on the brink of recession wound not be unprecedented but it would perhaps be a bit unseemly. The party was originally scheduled for last November but was rearranged because the Queen was in Uganda at the time and so she felt that a big celebration on a day that wasn't even near her anniversary was unwarranted.

The latest extravagance in Dubai will be the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship. The ship is being sold to the Dubai World firm by Carnival for a cool $100 million. The ship will be turned into a floating hotel located on a pier in the Palm Jumeirah development. The company plans to recreate the original decor and fittings of the ship that she had when she was launched in 1967. The ship has crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times and carried over 2.5 million passengers. She will be docked at the Palm Jumeirah and open for business in 2009.

[Thanks, Timothy]

In order to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the 2007 Kentucky Derby, Crown Royal has created the most expensive version of their whisky. The original Crown Royal Canadian Blended Whisky was made for the Queen's parents in 1939 to commemorate their Grand Tour of Canada. Crown Royal has a created a new version of the whisky that uses remaining barrels of the original whisky. The Crown Royal XR Extra Rare Heritage Blend is not for sale but a suggested retail price would likely begin at $10,000. Diageo commissioned Casey Hyland, a master glass designer at Louisville's Glassworks, to create a custom glass decanter, etched with 24 K gold leaf.