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Château Latour 1875

      Cassolettes à la Jockey Club

      *

      Brouettes de Glaces assorties

      Gradins de Gaufrettes

       Royal Tawny Port

       Royal White Port

       Sherry Geo. IV

       Château Margaux 1871

      Brandy 1800

      THE JOCKEY CLUB DINNER

      BUCKINGHAM PALACE, DERBY DAY, 30 MAY 1906

      Tortue claire

      Crème de Pois Comtesse

       Madeira 1816

      *

      Whitebait au Naturel et à la Diable

      Suprêmes de Truites à la Valenciennes

       Forster Jesuitengarten 1875

      *

      Zéphires de Cailles à la Montagné

       G. H. Mumm 1892

      *

      Hanches de Venaison, Sauce Aigredoux

      Selle d’Agneau froide à la Niçoise

      Pommes de Terre à la Jaucourt

       Chambertin 1875

      *

      Ortolans Rôtis

      Poussins sur Canapés

      Salade de Coeurs de Romaines

       Still Sillery 1865

      *

      Asperges d’Argenteuil, Sauce Mousseline

      Pêches à la Reine Alexandra

      Pâtisseries à la Parisienne

       Château Lafite 1873

      *

      Cassolettes à la Jockey Club

      *

      Petites Glaces Printanières

      Friandises

      *

      Dessert

       Port 1812 (King of Portugal)

       Port 1834

       Château Margaux 1871

      A comparison of two Derby Day menus shows a certain consistency, though whether the choice of food reflects the King’s preferences or those of the Jockey Club members is a matter for conjecture. Turtle soup was on the menu in 1902 and again in 1906, as were whitebait, trout, venison, lamb, quail, asparagus; and also one dish which would today be highly controversial: ortolans, whether on canapés or roast. However delicious these little songbirds are said to be, most people would rightly be horrified at the thought of ortolan buntings being trapped, force-fed, drowned in Armagnac, and served as part of a meal, traditionally eaten whole. (The birds are now protected across the European Union.)

      Much more acceptable is the peaches dish, Pêches à la Reine Alexandra, named in honour of Edward’s queen, a variation of Escoffier’s 1890s creation for the Australian soprano Nellie Melba, using redcurrant sauce instead of raspberry. Cassolettes à la Jockey Club were presumably a must for Jockey Club dinners, the little individual dishes usually containing, according to The Menu Book (1913 edition) by Charles Herman Senn, ‘finely cut strips of celery, cold potatoes, cooked French beans, preserved mushrooms, gherkins and lettuce hearts, dressed with mayonnaise; garnished with anchovy fillets and hard-boiled eggs’.

      The Derby was won in 1902 by a horse called Ard Patrick, and in 1906 by a horse named Spearmint. Edward VII himself owned three Derby winners in his lifetime: the 1896 winner, Persimmon, and Diamond Jubilee (born in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee) when he was Prince of Wales, and Minoru, who won in 1909. To date, Edward VII is the only reigning British monarch to own a Derby winner.

      During visits to the theatre or opera, Edward would insist on a one-hour interval so that he could fully appreciate his supper, served in the royal box. The six royal hampers packed for such occasions contained such items as cold clear soup, lobster mayonnaise, cold trout, plovers’ eggs, cold duck, chicken, lamb cutlets, ham and tongue, a selection of sandwiches, a choice of some four desserts and Parisian pastries. Gold plate was taken along as well to remind the King that it was a royal meal, even if it came out of hampers.

      Such dedication to food could not do anyone any good, and as the King was also a smoker, it was inevitable that that his health would suffer. He suffered from worsening bronchitis during his last years but refused to stop working until a series of heart attacks confined him to the palace, where he died on 6 May 1910. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, his son Prince George came in to give him the news that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won at Kempton Park; he answered, ‘Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad.’ These are said to be the King’s last words.

      Edward’s eldest son having died in 1892 of flu-induced pneumonia, he was succeeded by Prince George, who reigned as George V.

      BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 22 MAY 1910

      Potage à l’Ecossaise

      *

      Saumon Grillé sauce Ravigote

      *

      Chaudfroid d’Agneau Printanier

      *

      Poulets rôtis et Langue

      *

      Petits Pois à l’Anglaise

      *

      Plum Pudding au Sabayon

      *

      Eton Mess aux Fraises

      A more restrained menu for a dinner given by the now Dowager Queen of Great Britain, Alexandra, for family members who had come from abroad to attend Edward VII’s funeral two days earlier.

      * * *

      The fantastic feeding habits in the royal palace, castles and country houses during Victorian and Edwardian days moderated following Edward VII’s death. His successors – his son George V and grandson George VI – were not great gourmets, although they were firm in their opinions about food. King George V, for instance, who had spent time in India, loved Bombay duck and was very happy to eat curry, prepared by Indian staff, every day, while Queen Mary was known as a connoisseur of fine food, but one without gluttony. In any case, times changed, and their reigns were marked by war and the deprivations it brings.

      POST-WAR RESTRAINT

      All changed abruptly with the First World War. Eating traditions had been slowly transforming since King George V ascended the throne, as he had the appetite of a professional sailor rather than a social gourmet. With the onset of wartime restrictions, he and Queen Mary insisted on rationing in the palace even before the nation was subjected to it. The Queen would let no member of the family eat more than two courses for breakfast and at her insistence the royal chefs became skilled at contriving mock meat cutlets from mutton purée. Although Mary was undoubtedly one of the greatest connoisseurs of food the palace has known, she set a steadfast example in changing and simplifying the royal eating habits. George V, meanwhile, prohibited the drinking of wine, or indeed any alcohol,

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