Kate Middleton handed brand new royal power - and it's extremely rare

When William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales, many aspects of their royal lives changed. When the late Queen died in 2022 and King Charles became the monarch, William and Kate were given more and more royal responsibilities that come with being two of the royal family’s most senior working members.

One such perk of their new titles is the ability to grant royal warrants, and it seems they will issue their first royal warrants in 2026. Senior royals grant warrants to businesses as a mark of being the official supplier of goods to that particular royal.

In December, the King and Queen granted a list of warrants to suppliers including Camilla's hairdresser Jo Hansford and champagne company Bollinger.

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Companies holding a royal warrant, which is granted for up to five years, are recognised for providing goods or services to the monarchy and are allowed to use the official coat of arms of the royal they are associated with on packaging, as part of advertising or on stationery.

According to Ian Patrick, Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales: "Their Royal Highnesses are delighted to be able to recognise and celebrate British industry, creativity and skills through the granting of Warrants."

Kate will become the first Princess of Wales to grant royal warrants since Princess Mary of Teck in 1910, making her royal seal of approval just as highly coveted as Prince William’s.

Royal warrants are a huge advertising boost for companies, with Prince William and Princess Kate’s warrants being no exception. Over her years in the spotlight, Kate’s own style and recommendations causes items to sell out in minutes, and a royal warrant on a certain business or designer is certain to generate a huge amount of publicity.

Many of her go-to fashion designers are likely to be in the running, including Catherine Walker, Jenny Packham and Erdem, while jewellers could include Kiki McDonough, Robinson Pelham and Catherine Zoraida.

The royal couple’s warrants will be considered in a two-stage process, beginning this week with applications from firms who have existing warrants for the King and Queen, with successful applicants to be notified early next year.

The Prince and Princess will then take applications from new businesses who don’t have existing warrants, with this lengthy process expected to take several months.

Last year in May, the King and Queen granted warrants to more than 140 companies, covering businesses who had previously held warrants when the monarch was Prince of Wales, before issuing another 400 warrants in December.