The King and Queen have been presented with a specially made wine bottle, created out of paper, during their state visit to France.
The commemorative Cardbordeaux 2023 bottle was designed and promoted by Hull’s Larkin PR to raise awareness of client, Frugalpac’s paper-based bottles.
The Royal pair received the gift at a Franco-British trade event in Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux.
“We’ve helped to develop close ties with the Department for Business and Trade and the British Embassy after being invited to display the paper bottles at a trade event at the Ambassador’s residence in Paris,” explained Larkin PR founder and CEO David Prescott.
“The bottles went down so well we were invited back to France to display them in Bordeaux at the farewell event for the King and Queen. So we came up with the idea of doing something a bit special – a commemorative paper bottle which we named Cardboardeaux 2023
“We had a tight turnaround time to get it designed and printed but we were able to unveil the special bottles on the day and everyone loved them.
“When the Queen came to our stand she was fascinated with them and wanted to know about the technology behind the bottles.
“We’ve been on such an incredible journey with Frugalpac. We actually launched the paper bottle in lockdown from my kitchen table in Hull and took the first pictures of it in my garden.”
The paper Frugal Bottle is made from 94% recycled cardboard, has a carbon footprint six times lower than a glass bottle is five times lighter and can be recycled again.
The “Cardbordeaux 2023” bottle was designed with the union flag, the King’s Cypher and the Bordeaux crest on the front and on the back and a message in French to the King and Queen, which read:
“This is the world’s first paper bottle for wines and spirits: the Frugal Bottle. It was designed and manufactured by British sustainable packaging company Frugalpac in Ipswich, Suffolk.
“[…] This Frugal Bottle, which contains Bordeaux wine, was specially made to commemorate the visit of HRH King Charles III and HRH Queen Camilla to Bordeaux on September 22, 2023.”
“The King has been inspirational in encouraging sustainability and was one of the first people to set up a bottle bank in the UK, at Buckingham Palace in 1980,” added Frugalpac CEO Malcolm Waugh.
“That’s why we wanted to do something special to mark the King and Queen’s state visit to France. Larkin suggested producing a commemorative Cardbordeaux 2023 bottle to thank him for his commitment to the environment and campaigning for sustainability for decades.
“The Queen was delighted with the bottles and asked lots of questions before taking two of the commemorative bottles away with her.”
The Queen’s visit to the stand secured international coverage including ITV’s News at 10 and NBC News in the US.
