Crown Royal was created by Seagram’s chairman Samuel Bronfman in 1939.
The blend was developed to honour the 1939 royal tour of Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Bronfman created a whisky intended as a gift for the royal visitors, and the resulting brand was named Crown Royal. It was first sold in Canada before becoming available in other markets.
Crown Royal is a Canadian whisky brand owned today by Diageo. Its whiskies are blended from multiple component whiskies made at facilities in Manitoba, including the Gimli distillery, where Crown Royal is bottled and matured in the brand’s established production system.
The name can cause a common mix-up: Crown Royal is not a royal title or a Scotch whisky category. It is a commercial Canadian whisky brand whose origin is tied specifically to a 1939 visit by the British monarch and consort.