Ballater butcher HM Sheridan has been denied a new Royal Warrant after nearly 40 years of supplying Balmoral Castle with meat and poultry.
The store, on Bridge Street in the Royal Deeside village, had previously been granted warrants by the late Queen and Charles, then the Prince of Wales/Duke of Rothesay, in 1987.
Royal Warrants are granted for up to five years at a time and used as a mark of recognition for suppliers of goods and services to the Royals.
HM Sheridan applied for the new King’s Warrant, but was unsuccessful, despite providing meat and poultry to nearby Royal residence Balmoral Castle.
The decision was made during a review into Royal Warrants granted by the now King when he was the Prince of Wales/ Duke of Rothesay.
A spokesman for HM Sheridan told The Press and Journal: “We applied for the King’s warrant as a new warrant as we never had it before, but we’re unsuccessful with our application.
“We are disappointed.”
This month, the King and Queen Camilla granted their first Royal Warrants of Appointment.
The grants were made to companies drawn from those previously holding a Royal Warrant to His Majesty as Prince of Wales.
Companies that held a single Queen Elizabeth II Royal Warrant were being reviewed for new ones.
Butcher’s long-standing relationship with Royals
HM Sheridan is co-owned by John Sinclair and proudly displays its Royal Warrants on its building, as well as flying both the Scottish and UK flags.
It’s had a long-standing relationship with the Royals.
After Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September 2022, Mr Sinclair described Her Majesty as Ballater’s “next door neighbour”.
In September 2016, he gave the late Queen a tour of the village as she visited to see its recovery efforts after Storm Frank burst the banks of the River Dee the previous year.
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