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Nestled on the Strand in the heart of London, Coutts has been the pre-eminent financial lender for the great and good of British society for 331 years.
Founded in 1692, it has served every member of the Royal Family since the late 18th century, and remains the King’s bank today.
Its non-royal clientele have included Lord Byron, Frederic Chopin, the Duke of Wellington, Charles Dickens, Lord Nelson and the Beatles.
British rapper Stormzy is a customer, as are Harry Potter star Emma Watson and several high-profile footballers.
But it is still best known as the bank to the Royal Family, so much so that there is a Coutts cash machine tucked away in the basement of Buckingham Palace – despite British monarchs never carrying cash.
Since 1692, Coutts has served every member of the Royal Family, as well as other famous clientele from Chopin to Emma Watson
It has enjoyed royal patronage since its early years, when Queen Anne asked the bank, which was also a goldsmith at the time, to make the badges for the Order of the Thistle – a prestigious order of chivalry for Scottish knights, ladies, lords, dukes and earls.
In 1761, James Coutts took his brother Thomas into the business, which became Thomas Coutts & Co in 1791.
Thomas was known as the ‘Court Banker’ and was very close to King George III.
He wrote in a letter: ‘I was much in his Majesty’s confidence, which I never did anything to forfeit, and I never mentioned any circumstances of his affairs to anyone, and have left no trace of them behind.’
Another document reveals how Thomas directed to pay £1,000 every three months to King George IV’s mistress when he was the Prince of Wales.
The monarch contracted a secret marriage with Maria Fitzherbert but the union was invalid under English law because his father, George III, had not consented to it.
Thomas’s other clients included political rivals Charles James Fox and William Pitt, who served as Prime Minister between 1766 and 1768.
Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, was given advice by Thomas when her compulsive gambling left her deep in debt.
In 1761, James Coutts took his brother Thomas (pictured) into the business, which became Thomas Coutts & Co in 1791
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The famous bank’s clientele include King Charles (left) and British rapper Stormzy (right) – alongside a host of fellow celebrities
In one letter her wrote to her, Coutts told her she had ‘titles, character, friends, fortune, power, beauty and conjugal happiness’ and that she must become ‘better acquainted with the true value and proper use of money.’
Coutts is mentioned in Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera The Gondoliers. The lyric reads: ‘The aristocrat who banks with Coutts; The aristocrat who hunts and shoots; The aristocrats who cleans our boots; They all shall equal be.’
Coutts’ grand headquarters, which have existed on the Strand since 1692, boast a rooftop garden – which supplies honey from its own beehives – and meals from a private chef.
Coutts’s headquarters on the strand is seen above in 1973
The bank was first established in 1692 by John Campbell. It became known as Coutts & Co in 1822 after James Coutt, a partner from 1755 onwards. Above: The interior of Coutts’s offices
The smart interior of Coutts Bank on the Strand in London in 1970
Queen Elizabeth II opens Coutts’ revamped headquarters in 1978
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is seen leaving Coutts’ Strand branch in 1986, four months before her marriage to Prince Andrew
As the most exclusive bank in the world, Coutts insists potential customers must invest or borrow a minimum of £1 million or save £3 million with the bank in order to have the privilege of joining.
Its first branch outside London was opened at Eton in Berkshire in 1961. It now has offices in the likes of Birmingham, Cambridge, Manchester , Aberdeen and Tunbridge Wells.
In a 2002 interview, Gordon Pell, Coutts’s then chief executive, told how picky the bank can be with its clients.
‘In order to get a Coutts chequebook you have to be seriously special,’ he said.
‘You could be exceptionally rich and we still might not want to give you an account.’
