As the royal family mourns the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, a new documentary premiering on True Royalty TV reveals his role, alongside the Queen, in growing the British royal family into one of the world’s most successful, and biggest brands.
Exclusive new research commissioned for the program reveals that Queen Elizabeth is a bigger global brand than icons from the worlds of politics, business, media, and entertainment, including Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, the Obamas, Kim Kardashian, and Beyoncé. The research also argues that she has grown the royal family into the world’s fifth biggest “corporate brand,” ahead of multinationals including Coca-Cola, Nike, and Microsoft.
The research is included in Elizabeth at 95: The Invincible Queen, a documentary special celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday and her role alongside Prince Philip as CEO and COO of the family “Firm.” It premiered April 21 on True Royalty TV, the subscription video on demand service dedicated to all things royal.
Elizabeth at 95: The Invincible Queen uncovers how the Queen and Prince Philip acted when necessary to protect the Windsor brand at virtually all costs. The documentary also analyzes the Monarchy’s business operations and how it makes its money by leveraging its brand, and reveals how the Palace uses its powerful influence behind the scenes to protect its revenues and avoid scrutiny.
Interviewees in the program, including business leaders, brand and financial experts, government ministers, historians and royal insiders, provide their view on her long and distinguished record, and ask what the future is for the Monarchy as a brand and business once she is no longer its CEO.
Kubi Springer, the award-winning international brand consultant who has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world including Nike, L’Oreal, Justin Timberlake, and Rolls Royce, says in the program, “Nike, Ferrari and Coke, when you combined those brands together, the Queen’s brand has more articles than those three combined, which is really powerful.”
Brand and business experts interviewed in the program estimate the Royal Family’s brand value at around US$100 billion, with the Queen’s personal brand worth at around US$50 billion— similar to the values of household brands such as Coca Cola.
David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, tells the program, “The Royal Family refers to itself as ‘The Firm’. So, when we began analyzing the financial performance of the monarchy, we took that same phrase and tried to value it as a firm. And we estimate the value of the business at about £70 billion, which is about $100 billion. That puts it as the most valuable UK brand. It’s a more valuable brand than Shell, for example, or Marks & Spencer and many other UK brands.”
The monarchy’s brand is valuable to the UK as well, with some estimate putting its contribution to the UK economy at around £1.7 billion annually. And their brand is key to the royal family’s own revenue generation through the Firm’s business operations spanning real estate, property, food and financial investments. Haigh estimates the Queen’s personal wealth at around £400 million. This derives from private estates including Balmoral and Sandringham worth an estimated £100m, a collection of jewels and paintings worth £50-£100m, a stamp collection valued at £100m and £100m in cash or investments.
The exclusive data compiled for the program also reveal that the Queen’s brand has remained steadily positive over recent history, despite public relations fallouts from events such as the scandal surrounding Prince Andrew and the ongoing rift between Prince Harry and Prince William. On each occasion, the Queen, acting as CEO, has taken the necessary steps to protect the brand—whether breaking with royal protocols to give Princess Diana or reacting publicly to Harry and Meghan Markle’s allegations about racism in the Royal Family.
Alastair Campbell, former director of communications for Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the program, “That 300-word statement [reacting to the Oprah interview] was pitch perfect, for what she was trying to do. ‘Recollections may vary’ was brilliant.”
Protecting the royal brand is serious business for the royal family, and it has included lobbying successive UK governments to successfully shield the Monarchy from prying eyes. Rob Evans, a reporter at The Guardian, tells the program that the two institutions have used an opaque constitutional power called Queen’s Consent more than a thousand times since the Coronation in 1952, “so that civil servants could send specific proposed laws [in advance of publication, to The Queen] because they affect her interests and that could either be her private wealth, her private estates, or her prerogative powers or official work.”
On the occasion of her 95th birthday and following what has been a difficult year around the world, the Queen’s importance in global culture may be clearer than ever.
Nick Bullen, co-Founder and editor-in-chief of True Royalty TV, says, “With this documentary we want to celebrate Her Majesty’s birthday and mark Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s roles as the world’s longest-standing and most successful CEO and COO partnership, who have together built the British Monarchy into one of the world’s biggest brands and its most famous ‘family firm’, during nearly 70 years on the throne.”
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