LONDON, Nov 7: Royal Worcester & Spode Ltd, the 250-year-old pottery-maker for Queen Elizabeth II, became the latest victim of the global economic slowdown when it filed for administration late on Thursday.

Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers said they were trying to find a buyer for the business, which manufactures and sells luxury crockery, and blamed the company’s collapse on an inability to sell one of its key production sites, as well as the international downturn.

The company employs 388 people in various locations across UK, and also has a US subsidiary, The Royal China and Porcelain Companies Inc, which does not come under the administration filing.

Spode and Royal Worcester are among the most well-known and prestigious brands in the pottery industry, and trace their separate origins to the 18th century.

Royal Worcester was established in 1751 by a group of 15 men in the town of Worcester, west central England, while Spode was set up in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, in around 1770.

The former first made a dinner service for the royal family in the 1770s, and was awarded a Royal Warrant — a mark of recognition for individuals or companies who have provided services to the monarch — in 1789.

The announcement came after the queen’s former dressmaker, Hardy Amies, based on a London high street, said last month that it was filing for administration.

Founded in 1946, Hardy Amies began making dresses for her in 1952, when she was still a princess, and was given a Royal Warrant three years later.—AFP