Queen Elizabeth Has Her Own Branch of McDonald's And Now You Can Visit It
The fast food joint is one of the many properties in her vast property portfolio.
In case you didn't know, Queen Elizabeth is the world's biggest landowner. Business Insider reports that HRH owns up to 6.6 billion acres of land, including Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, and the Falkland Islands. Okay, well the Queen doesn't exactly own those countries in entirety, but her own personal royal estate includes six residences, half of the UK's shoreline, almost all of Regent Street in London, and Trafalgar Square. Many of the businesses lease land from her, meaning she technically owns them. Well, according to a report, the Queen even owns a McDonald's.
According to multiple sources, the Queen's McDonald's is located at the Banbury Gateway Shopping Park in Oxfordshire, approximately 80 miles away from Buckingham Palace. The fast food joint sits on the land that is part of her Crown Estate, owned by the Sovereign. So, technically, the Queen owns a McDonald's.
Apparently, the Queen's Mickey D's is a little fancier than most. Delish reports it is set up with leather sofas, digital menu boards, and Eames chairs. The Mirror reports that this McDonald's location is open to the public, so if you want to kick back in luxury and scarf down a McFlurry, you can do so. It also is equipped with a drive-thru – just in case you don't feel like walking in.
Other businesses on the property, which opened in 2015, include Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Marks & Spencer, and Primark. So the Queen owns those too.
So, do the royals feast on fast food at their McDonald's? Apparently, while they have been seen in Banbury (way back in 2008 when the Queen visited) she hasn't held court at her franchise. "We really don't think any of the Royal family go to McDonald's and they certainly haven't been to the one at Banbury Gateway," a representative from Visit Banbury told Today.
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This is the second McDonald's owned by the Queen. Apparently, she once owned a franchise at the Bath Road Retail Park in Slough. However, in 2016 the land was sold for £177 million and her Big Mac rights were revoked.
