Be inspired by our palaces to create innovative and commercial product
Brand licensing
We develop and design innovative product in collaboration with our licensing partners to reflect our cultural heritage and to continue our legacy of conserving these magnificent royal palaces and gardens for everyone to enjoy now and in the future.
Historic Royal Palaces are a team of people who love and look after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world - the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Banqueting House, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens.
With over a thousand years of architecture, art and design created through the eras from medieval illuminations, Tudor splendour, Jacobean exuberance to Georgian classicism and Victorian magnificence, there is a wealth of inspiration provided to create product that is of the highest quality with distinction and style.
INSPIRING DESIGN
We run an inspired design programme where inspiration can be taken from five key themes, including:
- Architecture – Galleries, golden gates and gargoyles
- Interiors – Intricate carvings and sumptuous ceilings
- Fashion – Silk stockings, ceremonial suits and royal court dresses
- Collections – Crowns, clocks, coronets and ceramics
- Gardens – Vast vines and amazing mazes
And much, much more with the craftsmen, architects and designers, including Christopher Wren, Antonio Verrio, Grinling Gibbons, William Kent, Jean Tijou and Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, to name but a few.
Header image: © Cole & Son
OUR PURPOSE
Our purpose is to stir every spirit to inspire and provoke change. We do this by being open, colourful, provocative, personal and always evolving. As an independent charity our licensing partnerships are incredibly important for us to continue our work and main cause of conserving these magnificent palaces for everyone to enjoy, now and in the future.
- Palaces: Give the palaces a future as bright as their past
- Experiences: Create unique and memorable experiences, onsite, offsite and online
- Culture: Nurture a culture that unites us behind our cause
- Money: Generate the money to rebuild our charity
Image: © GP & J Baker
WORKING TOGETHER
Our team of licensing professionals have the experience, resources and knowledge to help make the most of a licensed partnership.
Current collaborations include interior fabrics specialists GP & J Baker, high-end jewellery from Clogau, wallpaper experts Cole & Son, The Royal Mint, and Harney & Sons who produce our bespoke range of fine teas.
We work closely with our Curatorial, Conservation and Gardens teams to ensure provenance, factual accuracy and integrity of the product is in keeping with our stories and organisation.
BRAND GUIDELINES
We provide brand and packaging guidelines and creative support with style guide tasters and have an archive of over 100,000 images as well as PR and marketing benefits, enabling use of our iconic palaces as a backdrop for product launches, promotional events and marketing campaigns.
OUR PARTNERS
Our partners use our royal brand on commercial licensed product collections to reach domestic as well as an international markets, including the UK, Europe, USA and Asia.
Licensed products endorsed by Historic Royal Palaces carry a quality and authenticity with each unique and distinct item created. We work with licensing partners considered the 'best in their field', who share our brand values of innovation, craftsmanship, beauty, style and storytelling – all our products are a piece of luxury and heritage for now and future generations to enjoy.
Image (below): © Historical Royal Palaces / The Royal Mint
"We are delighted to work with Historic Royal Palaces. The wealth of inspiration, curatorial support and assets provided have supported two highly successful coin collections and we’re currently rolling out a third. Our collectors love the royal heritage uniquely commemorated on these collections and the wonderfully rich stories we can tell in collaboration with the experts at Historic Royal Palaces."
Ruth Scuton – Product Manager, The Royal Mint
"The Design House at Cole & Son continue to create luxury wallpapers and living history art collaborations with Historic Royal Palaces. This successful and long-standing licensing partnership has enabled us to be inspired by the magnificent royal palaces, gardens and archive collections and work with the professional Licensing Team at Historic Royal Palaces. In 2020 we launched our second portfolio Great Masters at Hampton Court Palace. It is our largest collection of designs to date and includes a tapestry wallpaper printed on a 100% natural silk – a first for Cole & Son."
Marie Karlsson - Managing Director, Cole & Son
KEY EXHIBITION in 2023
Crown to Couture (5 April – 29 October 2023)
Our exhibitions are a great way for potential licensees to explore and see some of our wonderful assets on show with marketing support. In spring 2023 we will open a major couture fashion exhibition at Kensington Palace where the Georgian court meets the 21st-century red carpet.
With many 18th-century items taken from our vast archive of Royal Ceremonial Court Dress, cared for by our curators, expect to be dazzled by this blockbuster event of 18th-century dress and contemporary high fashion.
Learn more
Find out more
To find out more about our work, please contact us via licensing@hrp.org.uk.