Duchy Originals and Social Enterprise
The Prince of Wales launched his own food company, Duchy Originals, in 1992 with its first product – a biscuit made from wheat and oats grown organically on the Home Farm at Highgrove. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the United Kingdom's best-known organic and natural brands.
In establishing Duchy Originals, The Prince of Wales sought to create a company that helped small farmers find a new market for their goods while offering consumers natural, high quality food and promoting more sustainable production methods that improved soil health and protected the environment. This way, The Prince aimed to create what he calls a ‘virtuous circle’. Visit the website.
North Highland Initiative
The Duke of Rothesay, as The Prince of Wales is known in Scotland, launched the North Highland Initiative (NHI) in August 2005 to promote and develop the economy and to support the rural communities of the North Highlands.
The NHI was formed as a direct result of The Duke’s involvement in bringing together the farming community, local businesses and the tourism industry to try to address some of the challenges facing rural communities in the North of Scotland by creating a powerful regional identity for the area through marketing.
The Mey Selections brand was the NHI’s first venture and was developed to enhance the marketing presence of produce from the North Highlands’ area in niche food markets, selling beef, mutton and lamb.
Since the launch Mey Selections has realised £150,000 of additional income for local farmer members. Visit the website.
The second phase of the NHI was the launch of a tourism marketing strategy, which focuses on the idea of “Pleasure in the Extreme”, rooted in the physical and environmental extremes that exist in the North Highlands. Visit the website.
The third phase of the project is concentrating on breathing new life into the area’s valuable built heritage.
Turquoise Mountain Arts
Turquoise Mountain Arts is the trading arm of the Turquoise Mountain, an organisation working on the economic, social and cultural regeneration of a precinct in Kabul’s old city and running Afghanistan’s only Centre of Traditional Afghan Arts and Architecture with schools of ceramics, woodworking and calligraphy. Turquoise Mountain Arts finds markets for Afghan crafts, creating economic incentives to ensure their survival. It provides business training to young artisans, preparing them to succeed both as artists and entrepreneurs, and to existing craft businesses, helping them to expand and professionalise their operations.
Turquoise Mountain Arts works to bring Afghan crafts to world markets. It has completed commissions for international property developers, hotels and interior designers, and for embassies, offices, and private buyers in Afghanistan. Visit the website.
Highgrove Enterprises
Highgrove Enterprises manages tours to The Prince’s organic garden at Highgrove, the two Highgrove Shops, website and events at His Royal Highness’s Gloucestershire home. The garden is well-known for being run on an organic basis and embodies The Prince's environmental philosophy: that it is better to work with Nature than against it.
The Highgrove Shop sells exclusive branded gifts for the home and garden and often reflect the personal interests of The Prince. All of the products meet rigorous buying criteria; they must have genuine provenance, be of original design or formulation and be sourced responsibly with regard to environmental issues. There is a shop in the gardens at Highgrove is open to visitors only, but there are two shops open to the general public, one in tetbury and one in Bath. In addition a selection of Highgrove branded products can be purchased online. Visit the website.
The Prince’s Charities Events Ltd
The Prince’s Charities has established this trading subsidiary to undertake commercial activities in support of the group’s wider mission, with a programme of music, sport and film such as Concert for Diana, “The Friendship Cup” between India and Pakistan and the film Stairway to Heaven. In 2007 alone, it generated over £3million.