The Queen, her husband The Duke of Edinburgh, her heir The Prince of Wales and until her death in 2002 her Mother - The Queen Mother individually grant Royal Warrants to selected tradesmen, who supply their respective households with quality goods and services.
Johnson Bros received their first Royal Warrant in 1970 and at one time held a warrant from both The Queen and The Queen Mother. Currently they hold a warrant from the late Queen Mother, but that will lapse this year as it is now 5 years since she died.
Royal Warrants are granted to the tradesman and not to the pattern! So there is no suggestion that The Queen or her Mother dined off Johnson Bros Willow each evening. Indeed, one of the rules if you hold a Royal Warrant, is that you must not disclose what you actually supply to the Royal family. If Johnson Bros had said "Willow as supplied to Her Majesty" they would have been struck off and probably locked in the Tower of London.
The Warrants appeared on the backstamps of many of the Johnson Bros patterns
As a rule of thumb a Johnson Bros Royal Warrant backstamp is 1970 to 1990/2, after which modern backstamps were adopted that often make more of the dishwasher and microwave fighting qualities of the wares than their association with Royalty
So your purchase is older than the gift from your Father.
One final thought, Royal Warrants should not be confused with Royal Coats of Arms that appeared as backstamps on china in the 1800s and had no official status, but were a crude marketing device to suggest quality by association.
Regards
Andrew
Lovers of Blue & White
PS www.royalwarrant.org is great for Warrant info.
PPS Spode, Wedgwood, Minton, Royal Albert, Royal Crown Derby and Royal Worcester are also Royal Warrant holders so the Royal family is not short of a plate or two for supper.
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