Buckingham Palace to sell gin made from Queen's own garden

It is an essential component of the Queen’s rumoured favourite drink, not to mention a staple in cocktail hours across Britain’s gardens.

This summer, fellow fans of gin can experience the spirit with official royal approval, as Buckingham Palace launches its own bottle.

The Royal Collection Trust has launched a dry gin, made from ingredients handpicked from the garden of the Queen's London residence.

Due to be served at future events at the palace, it has gone on sale through the Royal Collection Trust promising the “perfect summer thirst-quencher” with “unique royal origin”.

Described as being infused with citrus and herbal notes, the gin is derived from 12 botanicals, some of which - lemon verbena, hawthorn berries, bay leaves and mulberry leaves - are collected from the Buckingham Palace garden.

It is the first time the RCT has produced alcohol to its own recipe, with ingredients sourced from within Buckingham Palace walls.

It has previously stocked a “Scottish heather honey” gathered from the beehives of the Balmoral Estate.

The gin will be particularly special to royal admirers for its direct link to the Queen, who is known to be a fan of a gin cocktail, following in the footsteps of her late mother.

Her favourite drink rumoured to be gin and Dubonnet - one part gin and two parts Dubonnet, with ice cubes and a slice of lemon - which she is said to enjoy immediately before lunch.

The Royal Collection Trust's website offers up its ideal serving suggestion, saying: "For the perfect summer thirst-quencher, the recommended serving method is to pour a measure of the gin into an ice-filled short tumbler before topping up with tonic and garnishing with a slice of lemon."

The clear and turquoise glass bottle features a coronet and a ring of flowers entwined in an elaborate gold decorative circle, with a gold-coloured stopper and a sketch of Buckingham Palace on the back.

Priced at £40 for a 70cl bottle, money will go to the Royal Collection Trust which has admitted it is facing the “greatest challenge” in its history after the Covid-19 pandemic forced its sites to close.

All profits from sales of the gin go to the Trust, a charity which maintains and displays the large collection of royal artefacts from artwork to furniture held in trust by the Queen for her heirs and the nation.

The trust is already seeking voluntary redundancies among its 650 staff and has taken out a £22 million loan after predicting losses of £30 million over the next year.

The 42 per cent ABV gin can be ordered online or in person, with the RCT shops now open five days a week with new social distancing measures in place.

Windsor Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and the Queen's Galleries in London and Edinburgh are to reopen to the public on July 23.

Buckingham Palace itself will remain closed this summer, with its gardens out of reach to members of the public.

Usually, thousands of visitors are able to view its pristine lawns, flower beds and spectacular roses at garden parties each year, cancelled for 2020 as the scale of the coronavirus crisis emerged.

The garden at Buckingham Palace provides a habitat for 30 species of birds and more than 250 species of wildflowers.

The planting of mulberry trees was popularised in England during the reign of James I, and this royal association continues today, with 40 different species of the trees in the palace garden.