Royal Umbrellas: Queen Tours Factory with Royal Warrant

Well, this isn't an umbrella image, but rather the Royal warrant from the home page of Fulton Umbrellas--firms receive a Royal warrant from the Queen for supplying their products to Buckingham Palace. This comes up today, because the Queen is touring factories in London’s East End today (Wednesday). "Her tour with Prince Philip includes the famous Whitechapel bell foundry and the umbrella factory that holds the Royal warrant":

The next stop on the tour is Fulton Umbrellas, a family-run firm in Blackwall, which has been making umbrellas for 50 years.

They tour the warehouse, textile print-shop and umbrella assembly workshop of the company founded by Arnold Fulton in 1959.

Fulton Umbrellas doesn't tell us which umbrella the Queen uses, but they do publish a nice set of rules for taking care of an umbrella:

• Whenever possible leave the umbrella open to dry and avoid rolling when wet
  
• Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight may cause the fabric to fade
  
• Only plain water or white India Rubber should be used to clean the fabric. Detergents may remove the proofing of the cover
  
• All umbrellas may be damaged by strong gusts. Wind damage does not constitute a faulty frame. Most of our umbrellas incorporate flexible frames which allow the umbrellas to invert without damage, but we would advise not using umbrellas in very windy weather.
  
• Special care should be taken when opening our umbrellas with PVC covers. The creases should be gently unfolded before attempting to open the umbrella. The material is lightly dusted with a non-toxic powder to prevent sticking, and this should not be removed.
  
• Most walking length umbrellas, particularly those with wooden shafts, are not designed for use as walking sticks and damage may occur if they are used for this purpose.

For more pictures and story of the Queen's visit, see the East London Advertiser. Among other things, I did learn that "The company’s ‘see through’ umbrella became a trade mark for the Queen Mother who used them on Royal visits during bad weather, so the public could see her clearly."