U.K. royal family pumps billions into the economy. The queen’s death may change that

The death of Queen Elizabeth II is sure to send shockwaves through the economies of both the United Kingdom and Canada as experts say the brand value of the British royal family is at risk with the loss of its longest-reigning monarch.

The queen’s death on Sept. 8 marked not only the loss of the U.K. and Canada’s constitutional head, but the figurehead and brand ambassador of the monarchy itself, according to Charles Scarlett-Smith, director of Brand Finance Canada.

“When we’re thinking about Queen Elizabeth II’s brand, we really are being synonymous with the royal family and the monarchy,” he tells Global News.

And that brand alone ranks among the most valuable in the world, according to a Brand Finance report assessing the monarchy’s capital value in 2017.

The British monarchy — its actual assets plus intangible impacts on the economy — was valued at £67.5 billion that year, or roughly CAD$112.4 billion in 2017 dollars.

Comparing the royal family’s value to a similar list of major corporate brands prepared that same year by Brand Finance, the monarchy would’ve ranked fourth in the world, behind just Google, Apple and Amazon.

While the average annual cost for U.K. taxpayers to upkeep the royals comes in around £500 million a year (CAD $700-$750M), Brand Finance estimates the monarchy’s brand contributes £2.5 billion (CAD$3.7B) to the British economy each year.

“Royalist or not, the amount of economic benefit that’s brought to the (U.K.) from the existence of the royal family is undeniable,” Scarlett-Smith says.

Feeding into the economic impact of “The Firm,” as the royal family’s business arm is informally known, is a bit of brand association known as royal warrants, which give corporations the chance to claim the monarch’s seal of approval. Brand Finance claims a royal warrant has led to a 10-per cent boost in revenue on average for the roughly 800 British firms bearing the mark.

Tourism dollars also play a major role in that economic impact. Brand Finance said in 2017 that it expects the royal family generates some £550 million (CAD$915M) annually for U.K. tourism as travellers include destinations such as Buckingham Palace or the Tower of London on the itineraries.

Lesley Keyter, who grew up in England and now runs The Travel Lady agency in Calgary, says the monarchy’s draw on her Canadian clientele is “huge.”

Most avid travellers who book with her are also big history buffs, Keyter says, which makes pilgrimages to see the Crown Jewels or take in the royals’ palaces impossible to resist.

The queen’s passing this past week will spur even more travel to these iconic landmarks, she argues, as royalists mourn the monarch.

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“I must confess, I shed a few tears because she was such a remarkable woman,” Keyter reflects in an interview with Global News.

“I’m sure over the next year there’s going to be a lot of people visiting Buckingham Palace … somewhere where they can leave a flower or a note or something on the gates.”

Much of the credit for the monarchy’s lucrative brand can be placed at the feet of the late queen herself, argues journalist and royals researcher Emily Stedman.

That most people think of her when saying just the words “the queen” was a reflection of one of the oft-quoted lines during her reign, that “you have to be seen to be believed,” she says.

As such, she went on more than 250 royal tours in the 70 years she held the throne, visiting Canada 22 times. These visits were as much a branding exercise as a display of formal duty, Stedman argues.

“She is the face of the British monarchy at the end of the day. When you say the words, ‘the royal family’, she is the first figure that comes to mind,” she says.

It’s her face on the plates and mugs lining every British gift shop in London, Stedman notes.

“It is going to be such a great loss and a big change for people to really factor in that, ‘OK. The queen’s passed and now the head of the royal family is King Charles III.”