Who owns Crown Royal?
Crown Royal is owned by Diageo (the United Kingdom, LSE: DGE), which has owned the brand since 2001.[1][2]
Evidence: Diageo plc Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-08-18, SEC EDGAR, 18 August 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Diageo plc verified
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, London
- Origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- Founded
- 1939
- Category
- Beverages › Spirits › Whisky & bourbon
- Parent ticker
- LSE: DGE NYSE: DEO
- Trademark registrant
- Diageo North America, Inc. (USPTO)
- Last verified
- · 3 sources
About Crown Royal
Crown Royal was blended in 1939 as a gift for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their tour of Canada, and each bottle still comes in a purple drawstring bag. It was sold only in Canada until 1964 and is now the largest Canadian whisky brand in the world.
What Diageo's annual report says about Crown Royal
Sentences about Crown Royal from Diageo's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Crown Royal whisky net sales declined 15.9%, primarily due to softness in Crown Royal Deluxe and lapping strong comparatives for Crown Royal Blackberry through fiscal 25.
How often Diageo names Crown Royal in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named less often than it was three years earlier.
Trademark record for Crown Royal
The USPTO record for the Crown Royal mark lists Diageo North America, Inc. as the owner of record (serial number 72000448). That name matches the owner named above.[3]
Ownership timeline of Crown Royal
Where Crown Royal sits in Diageo
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Diageo ownership tree →
See the full Diageo brand portfolio (23) →
Other brands owned by Diageo
Diageo controls 23 brands on Brandtree, 23 of them in beverages.
Also in beverages
- Baileys (1974)
- Buchanan's (1884)
- Bulleit (1987)
- Captain Morgan (1944)
- Cardhu (1824)
- Casamigos (2013)
- Cîroc (2003)
- Don Julio (1942)
- Gordon's (1769)
- Guinness (1759)
- Guinness 0.0 (2020)
- Johnnie Walker (1820)
- Lagavulin (1816)
- Oban (1794)
- Pimm's (1823)
- Roe & Co (2017)
- Ron Zacapa (1976)
- Smirnoff (1864)
Other brands in whisky & bourbon, and who owns them
Diageo has more brands in whisky & bourbon on Brandtree than any other owner: 9 of 71.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Black Velvet | Heaven Hill | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Blood Oath | MGP | 🇺🇸 United States |
| anCnoc | ThaiBev | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| Jura | Emperador | 🇵🇭 Philippines |
| Hibiki | Suntory | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Glenfiddich | William Grant & Sons | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Jack Daniel's | Brown-Forman | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Highland Park | Edrington | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
About the owner: Diageo
Diageo is a publicly listed company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, founded in 1997. Brandtree records 23 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: DGE and NYSE: DEO.
Diageo was formed in 1997 by the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan. It is the largest spirits company in the world, with a portfolio spanning Scotch whisky, vodka, gin, rum, tequila and stout.
🇨🇦 Crown Royal and other Canadian brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 178 brands that began in Canada. 45 of them (25%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Crown Royal among them.
- Big 8 — Empire 🇨🇦
- Black Velvet — Heaven Hill 🇺🇸
- Canada Dry — Keurig Dr Pepper 🇺🇸
- Carling — Molson Coors 🇺🇸
- Fruité — Lassonde 🇨🇦
- Jones Soda — Jones Soda 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Crown Royal?
The parent company of Crown Royal is Diageo, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Is Crown Royal Canadian or British?
Crown Royal originated in Canada in 1939, but it is owned today by Diageo, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So Crown Royal is a Canadian-origin brand under British ownership.
Since when has Diageo owned Crown Royal?
Diageo has owned Crown Royal since 2001.
Is Crown Royal still owned by Diageo?
Yes. As of 9 October 2026, Crown Royal is still owned by Diageo. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (3) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Diageo plc Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-08-18 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 20-F, published 18 August 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
- [2] Diageo: Our history — Diageo plc, Official document; retrieved 27 September 2026.
- [3] USPTO: CROWN ROYAL, serial 72000448, registration 635313 — United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark registry; retrieved 27 September 2026.
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