The Queen’s Stationery — not to mention Prince Charles’, The Duke of Edinburgh’s etc.

I imagined Catherine Middleton secretly having purchased this Wedding Planner from Smythsons back in October — but according to Vanity Fair, hers is purple. It looks and feels so regal. And it is since the Queen uses them. Of course, Her Majesty the Queen could also use other shops to provide her stationery and diary needs but if so, I’d have to ask, why? Why mess with the perfection that is Smythson’s?

When Frank Smythson started his shop in 1887, his trade card read “First class stationery, leather goods, and cabinet work” and short of the cabinet work, it’s what they still do including bespoke —custom made — stationery. And while their leather goods remain perfection, their notebooks are what likely draws in the mass sales. My favorite items are their self described fun titles. Two examples for sale next to each other: “Keep Calm and Carry On” and “Panic and Freak Out.”

There’s just something I love about British whimsy — buttoned up and traditional with a touch, just a touch, of whimsy, i.e., a traditional bound leather journal with gold imprinted lettering that says “Feeling Groovy”. As a Classic, it fits me like a glove. I feel like when Americans do whimsy, we pile it on so high that it’s just too much, i.e., Hawaiian shirts WITH fanny packs. We don’t know how to do just a touch with most things. But, then perhaps this inability to restrain ourselves is why Americans are seemingly so hated yet also so beloved worldwide. We’re like big annoying, yet utterly, adorable loyal golden labs.

I have no idea how I stumbled on Smythsons 10 years ago but I fell in love with their mini datebooks — Featherweight journals —because I hadn’t gone electronic yet and they were sooooo much lighter than my Filofax behemoth. I laughed to discover that Mr. Smythson invented them in 1908 to solve the problem of heavy, large personal journals. My poor neck and shoulders needlessly suffering the weight of carrying a Filofax around all of those years when Smythson had already solved the problem nearly 100 years before. But, this was before the Internet and Smythson didn’t — and isn’t likely to — have a shop in my hometown of Cleveland anytime soon.

Smythson Jewelry boxes — $1000+ Now, how I know that Her Majesty the Queen actually uses this stationer — besides our weekly imaginary Skype chats — is that they’ve had a Royal Warrant from her since 1964. I also learned that they’ve had one from HRH The Prince of Wales since 1980, HM the Queen Mother since 1987 — obviously before she passed away — and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh since 2002. I thought it a bit odd that it took Her Majesty’s husband almost 40 years to start using his wife’s preferred stationer but then I learned the exact definition of a Royal Warrant:

To qualify for a Royal Warrant, tradesmen must supply the member of the Royal Family concerned, or their Household, with products or services in significant quantity over a period of at least five years. The Royal Warrant of Appointment has always been a symbol of excellence and quality – much treasured by those to whom it is granted.

Beyond fun titles, they have more useful notebooks — calendars, golf notes, wine notes, baby notes etc. Plus their regular stationery is amazing quality. And their handbag collection is divine if not most definitely on the expensive side. Ditto for their jewelry boxes — save their leather travel jewelry pouches, which run $100-300. I’ll say that if I owned that nice of a jewelry box in my house, I’d worry that it would be stolen more than I’d be worried about the majority of my jewels. But, a girl can dream and if PixiesDidIt! is successful in the next few years, maybe I’ll have two of those jewelry boxes. One for show and one for my safe.