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when she reportedly ate only a single boiled egg, served in a gold-plated eggcup with a gold spoon. Evidence from portraits, photographs and various contemporary accounts suggest otherwise, though. As a girl and young woman, she was warned that she was likely to become fat, and her weight fluctuated a great deal. ‘If I was to give you an opinion,’ remarked her Uncle Leopold, ‘I should say that a certain little Princess eats… frequently a little too much, and almost always a little too fast.’ Decades later, she was still getting through meals quickly, which was a pain to her guests as protocol meant they had to stop eating when she had finished. In later years, especially after the death of her beloved Prince Albert, it is clear that she consumed a great deal more than a single boiled egg. As the head of an empire she had to set an imperial table; as empress, she could have what she wanted. A book, published anonymously in New York in 1897, The Private Life of The Queen by a Member of the Royal Household, while protesting rather a lot that she ate little, commented on her fondness for sweet things: her particular favourites were ‘chocolate sponges, plain sponges, wafers of two or three different shapes, langues de chat, biscuits and drop cakes of all kinds, tablets, petit-fours, princess and rice cakes, pralines, almond sweets, and a large variety of mixed sweets’; in addition, ‘Her Majesty confesses to a great weakness for potatoes, which are cooked for her in every conceivable way.’

      In later years, one course Queen Victoria insisted should be available for lunch was a dish of curry and rice, served with considerable ceremony by two Indian servants resplendent in uniforms of blue and gold. Victoria took pride in being Empress of India and loved to surround herself with vividly attired Indian footmen and waiters. It could reasonably be supposed that it was as much the ceremony of the serving as it was the tastiness of the dish itself that prompted her to order it daily.

      During the closing years of her reign, Victoria had a residential staff of more than a hundred people at Windsor and a kitchen staff of forty-five, presided over by the head chef, Monsieur Juste Alphonse Menager. For state celebrations, extra members of staff were employed – for the Diamond Jubilee in 1897, twenty-four additional chefs were brought in to prepare the food, which took several days.

      HER MAJESTY’S DINNER

      OSBORNE HOUSE, ISLE OF WIGHT, TUESDAY, 25 DECEMBER 1894

       Potages

      À la Tête de Veau claire

      À la Cressy

       Poissons

      Les Tranches de Saumon sauce Hollandaise

      Les Soles à la Colbert

       Entrée

      Les Pains de Faisans à la Milanaise

       Relevés

      Roast Beef

      Yorkshire Pudding

       Rôts

      La Dinde à la Chipolata

      Chine of Pork

       Entremets

      Les Asperges à la Sauce

      Mince Pies

      Plum Pudding

      La Gelée d’Oranges à l’Anglaise

       Side Table

      Baron of Beef

      Wild Boar’s Head

      Game Pie

      Brawn

      Woodcock Pie

      Terrines de Foie Gras

      Osborne House was a favourite retreat of Queen Victoria, filled for her with happy memories of the days before the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Family members plus a few invited guests would join her there for Christmas. Other than plum pudding, there is little to indicate that this was a specifically Christmas meal. Although still hugely excessive, Queen Victoria’s dinners were slightly simpler and less extravagant in the 1890s than in the early days of her reign. Some more traditional dishes were listed under their English names while Monsieur Menager, the Queen’s head cook, retained the French names of the less plain dishes.

      Potage à la Cressy (also Crécy) is a traditional carrot and potato soup, and is named after Crécy-en-Ponthieu in northern France, which was said to produce the best carrots in the country. The Cressy soup served in Buckingham Palace was made to a recipe especially developed for Queen Victoria by Francatelli. Victoria’s son, Edward VII, while he was on the throne (1901–10), reportedly had Cressy soup every 26 August to commemorate the English victory under his namesake King Edward III at the Battle of Crécy, on that day in 1346.

      * * *

      For all his reputation as a playboy (or maybe a little bit because of it), Edward VII was a popular king. By contemporary standards, he was a liberal monarch; he condemned prejudice, patronised the arts, was a good diplomat and had considerable charm. He also liked to eat, and did not restrict himself. A typical lunch for six might include cold pheasant, a couple of partridges, two hot roast fowls, and hot beefsteaks. (This would come not too long after a substantial cooked breakfast.) Dinner always featured a choice of at least two soups, whole salmons and turbots, vast saddles of mutton and sirloins of beef, roast turkeys, several kinds of game such as woodcocks, plovers and snipe, a large array of vegetables, perhaps some devilled herring and cream cheese, an assortment of pastries, and enormous Stilton and Cheshire cheeses. This would be accompanied by an abundance of wines, followed by nuts and preserved fruits, then Madeira, port or sherry.

      The Jockey Club Dinners, for instance. Founded around 1750, or earlier, the Jockey Club was an exclusive gentlemen’s club whose members shared an interest in, and knowledge of, horses and horse racing. In time it became a regulatory body, establishing rules to ensure races were run fairly; today, while its functions and responsibilities have changed, it continues to thrive and owns fifteen of Britain’s most famous racecourses. The King, as a connoisseur of horses and racing, was of course a member and hosted the Club’s annual dinner, held on the day of the Epsom Derby, at the Palace. These meals were of eight to ten courses, most courses offering a choice of dishes, and all accompanied by a generous selection of fine wines.

      THE JOCKEY CLUB DINNER

      BUCKINGHAM PALACE, DERBY DAY, 4 JUNE 1902

      Tortue claire

      Consommé froid

       Turtle Punch, Madeira 1816

      *

      Blanchailles au Naturel et à la Diable

      Filets de Truite froids à la Norvégienne

       Johannesburg 1880

      *

      Ailerons de Volaille à la Diplomate

      Chaudfroid de Cailles à la Russe

      Moët et Chandon 1884

      Hanche de Venaison de Sandringham, Sauce Aigre doux

      Selle d’Agneau froide à l’Andalouse

       Chambertin 1875

      Ortolans sur Canapés

      Salade à la Bagration

       Still Sillery 1865

      *

      Asperges d’Argenteuil, Sauce Mousseline

      Pêches à la Reine Alexandra

      Pâtisserie

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