The theory and practice is that all warrants “die” with the death of the royal issuer. When QE II passed, her 500 or so warrants expired upon her passing. Some, like Cadbury and Lea and Perrins, have held warrants for so long. No one can remember a time when they did not hold one or more. Cadbury, a once proud British chocolatier, finds itself warrantless today. It has little hope of obtaining a new license. All for good reason, as many other Quorans have elucidated.
There is nothing written anywhere that says a new King (or Queen) must renew any warrants. I understood that Charles maintained his warrants for only about a year. He issued them while he was the Prince of Wales. This was after his mother’s passing. He has since added several and allowed several other warrants to expire because of dissatisfaction with the goods or service.
A member of the immediate royal family can issue royal warrants. This includes individuals like the king, queen, Prince of Wales, Princess Royal, or maybe the Queen Mother. They issue these warrants to purveyors of goods or services. All such warrants have two points of expiry – five years or the death of the person issuing the authorization.
