Royalty was first cultivated by Dr. Olmo in 1938 at the California Agricultural Experiment Station of UC-Davis but wasn't released for commercial use until 1958. It was released at the same time as Rubired another Olmo teinturier with Alicante Ganzin parentage. Like Rubired, Royalty was mostly grown in the Central Valley of California where it was used a blending grape to improve the color of red wines. However, Royalty showed itself to be more difficult to cultivate than Rubired and fell out of favor among many growers. While by the end of the 20th century there was still more than 6,000 acres (2,500 hectares) of Rubired in production in California there were only around 800 acres (320 ha) of Royalty in use.
