ROYAL BANQUET

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20927, 5 January 1938, Page 11

ROYAL BANQUET

DEMOCRATIC INNOVATIONS The King introduced a striking and democratic innovation at the State banquet to the King of the Belgians this week. When he rose to speak all the 180 guests, according to tradition, rose with him, but his Majesty at once said, “Please be seated," and, for the first time at a Buckingham Palace State banquet, guests sat to hear a monarch speak. The banquet had involved weeks of preparation because a hitch at such a gathering is unheal’d of. When the King decides to give a State dinner party he sends for the Earl of Cromer, Lord Chamberlain, and tells him the names of the principal guests whom the King himself wishes to entertain. Then “the Lord Chamberlain discusses With the King who else shall be invited, and after several conferences, in which the Queen also takes part, the final list is settled.

Lord Cromer gives orders to his officers and the invitation cards, bearing “Their Majesties Command” to dine at Buckingham Palace, go out. Perhaps two weeks before the date of the banquet the Master of the King’s Household, Sir Hill Child, passes on the King’s orders to the chefs to prepare a menu. The Queen looks over the chef’s suggestions, perhaps substituting .dishes that she thinks her guests would prefer, and finally the menu, usually consisting of ten courses, is chosen.

Four days before the dinner extra men and women come in to help the regular staff in the kitchens. Last week there were more than 20 extra cooks, kitchenmaids, and so on at work. In charge of them all was the King’s new chef, M. Rene Roussin. He took up his duties at Buckingham Palace only a few weeks ago, and this was his first State banquet. While all this is going on in the kitchens, there is bustle upstairs in the other departments of the Master of the Household and the Lord Chamberlain’s office in St. James’ Palace. These two departments are responsible for the seating arrangements. Flowers to decorate the royal tables are another important point. The Queen selects the general colour scheme and a few hours before the guests arrive a court florist, with perhaps a dozen girl assistants, comes to the Palace.

State banquets usually start at 8.15. When the meal is ended, the King’s piper, Pipe-Major Forsyth, leads pipers of the Guards around the tables, playing Scottish airs. If the King is making a speech, all servants are ordered to leave until he has finished. By 10.15 the King and Queen and their guests move out of the banqueting room. The function takes only two hours, after days and weeks of work.