God Save the Queen and Her Stash of CBD

We kind of already knew that the Queen of England was a pretty amazing woman. Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, is the longest-serving female head of state in world history, having ascended to the throne in 1952. She’s also the most well-traveled head of state, having gone overseas 261 times and visited 116 different countries. She’s made appearances in Olympic preshow events and has surprised professional athletes with selfie opportunities. Though it feels like a strange thing to say, Her Majesty the Queen is cool. Even so, it comes as something of a surprise that the Queen is selling weed. But, to be fair, that’s a statement that requires a little bit of context.

The Queen Sells Weed?

Not really, only kind of. The Queen owns a farm shop, the Royal Farms Windsor Farm Shop. The shop sells goods from the Royal Estates, and from other local suppliers as well. Some of the goods available for purchase include wines, meats, and coffee. And, as of recently, it also includes a drink called Trip. In spite of its name, Trip will not get you high—it has no intoxicating effects. It’s a CBD-infused energy drink that comes in two flavors: peach with ginger or elderflower with mint. And the UK loves it. Shoppers at Royal Farms Windsor tend to pick up about seven or eight bottles of the drink each time they visit. And according to media reports, they often sell out very quickly. 

Drinks with CBD in them are popular for many reasons. It’s a great way to ingest CBD without having to smoke it, if smoking is something you find unpleasant. It’s a good way to boost your immune system. And it can also help you to feel relaxed, something an energy drink could definitely benefit from. Adding CBD to the ingredients in an energy drink—in this case, it’s the amino acid L-theanine—would definitely help to balance out that boost of extra energy with a chilled out feeling, so you don’t fall victim to anxiety.

So it seems like the drink is pretty great. The surprise lies in the fact that the Queen is the one selling it. But is that so surprising?

A Forward-Thinking Royal Family

At present, THC is still illegal in the UK. CBD, however, is legal and may be freely bought and sold. Not only that, but the royal family has shown itself to have a remarkably progressive attitude toward cannabis. In addition to the Queen’s CBD drink, she’s not the first queen to publicly engage with the substance. Legend has it that Queen Victoria used cannabis to help cope with menstrual cramps—and that was all the way back in the mid-1800s! If that story is true, it’s certainly not difficult to believe that our modern Queen would be willing to infuse a drink with CBD today.

And Queen Elizabeth has always been about modernization for the monarchy. She established websites for the royal family and oversees both the websites and family members’ social media accounts. Queen Elizabeth knows well that the challenges of her time are different from those faced in any other era, and she is ready to confront them. Maybe that’s what makes her so ideally positioned to lead her country during the era of cannabis expansion. Queen Elizabeth sees what the future is going to look like. She’s already selling it on her farm. 

Perhaps soon we’ll be able to purchase Trip internationally and give it a try for ourselves. In the meantime, we applaud Queen Elizabeth for bringing this excellent and popular product to the people of the UK.