The Queen awaits
A new exhibition at Buckingham Palace focuses on royal entertaining and recreates the setting for a state banquet.
On June 28 1954, the 28-year-old Queen Elizabeth II waited at the end of Westminster pier, ready to greet King Gustaf VI of Sweden. Crowds had lined the Thames; television cameras were flming the occasion. The 71-year-old king, resplendent in his British naval uniform (he was an honorary Admiral of the Fleet), stepped ashore and saluted the new queen, before the two monarchs were driven to Buckingham Palace in a gold and red state landau, escorted by the Household Cavalry.
The state visit, lasting four days, marked the frst of her reign. But even though this was a family dinner of sorts (Queen Louise of Sweden was a sister of Earl Mountbatten of Burma), as head of state the Queen had a protocol to follow: there would be an
exchange of gifts, and a state banquet in the Ballroom with speeches, toasts and a four-course meal.
‘Not much has changed since,’ says Anna Reynolds, the curator of Buckingham Palace’s summer exhibition, A Royal Welcome, which opens today. ‘The state visit is one of the most formal occasions of the Queen’s year; it is the one most steeped in tradition.’
The exhibition provides a thrilling glimpse behind the scenes of everything that goes into making visits to Buckingham Palace so wonderfully regal – from the most formal and grand occasions in honour of foreign dignitaries to the Queen’s garden parties. Last year the Queen and other members of the Royal family welcomed more than 62,000 people to the palace.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is the state banquet: a table is set up just as it was for a state visit by the president of Singapore in October 2014. While in their current incarnation state banquets are largely a 20th-century innovation, Queen Victoria wrote in her diary about entertaining Napoleon III of France in 1855, ‘in the usual dining room’. The following year, after vast renovations, she added a new Ballroom, having appealed to Prime Minister Robert Peel for ‘a room capable of containing a larger number of
persons whom the Queen has to invite in the course of a season’. State banquets have been held here since 1914.
Two weeks ahead of the opening of the exhibition, the State Rooms are a hive of activity. Trays of Stourbridge glasses made for the Queen’s coronation in 1953, each bearing the eiir cipher, are being carried up from the Glass Pantry; 18th-century porcelain is being polished; and a member of the household staff stands in the middle of the Ballroom, steaming the linen tablecloth. More than 2,000 pieces of cutlery, tableware and salvers, plus 23 centrepieces – all part of the 4,000-piece Grand Service bought by George IV 200 years ago – glimmer under the lights.
A footman from the Silver Pantry is adjusting the top of a mid-17th-century 4ft candelabrum. ‘That is actually made up of 122 separate pieces,’ says Nigel McEvoy, Assistant
‘Very careful thinking goes into who might like to sit next to each other, if they have met someone before, and what languages they speak’
Master, Operations, who oversees the front of house and livery staff. ‘They have to be individually cleaned and put back together.’
McEvoy joined the palace staff 28 years ago as a footman, aged 19. ‘Because you work on setting up everything layer by layer, it comes together gradually. But there is a moment when you walk back into the finished room and think, wow,’ he says.
A state visit is planned 12 months in advance. The guest country is chosen by the government; the guest list of about 170 is then drawn up between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Royal Household. Invitations issued by the Queen are sent out two months in advance.
Once the replies are in, the Master of the Household can start a seating plan, using an 8ftwide board and slips of paper, each bearing the name of a guest, that can be moved around the mock-up table. Reynolds has reconstructed several of the below-stairs departments to show their work, including ‘the Office’, where table planning happens and box files bearing the names of countries and dates they visit the palace line the bookshelves. ‘Very careful thinking goes into who might like to sit next to each other, if they have met someone before, and what languages they speak,’ she says.
McEvoy explains that his team start preparing four months in advance, polishing the 5,500 silvergilt pieces and the 2,500 glass items. Five days before the dinner, the team construct the horseshoe table. The silver-gilt display – a selection of the best pieces from the Grand Service – is erected on one side of the Ballroom. It is a tradition that stretches back to the Middle Ages. ‘As a mark of respect you put on display your best objects,’ Reynolds says. With three days to go, the centrepieces go up; two days before, the Yeoman of the Glass and China Pantry folds the napkins embroidered with the Queen’s monogram in a Dutch bonnet shape, and flower arrangements are started.
On the day itself, starting at 8am, McEvoy’s team lay the table: first placing the folded napkins, then six pieces of silver-gilt cutlery per guest, plus butter knives. Twelve ice pails, 118 salt cellars, 140 dishes, 288 dinner plates and 1,104 glasses are then added to the table. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and those at the top table each have their own salt and mustard cellar; everyone else shares one between four. Each setting is checked with a special measuring stick – guests get at least 18in between their knife and fork. Before the banquet the Queen comes to look at the room.
Anna Reynolds with a self-portrait by David Hockney in the Picture Gallery. He was awarded the Order of Merit (OM) in 2012. Founded by King Edward VII in 1902, its recipients are chosen by the sovereign, and there are a maximum of 24 members at any time. The OM honours
those who have ‘rendered exceptionally meritorious service in Our Crown Services or towards the advancement of Arts, Learning, Literature and Science’.
‘It’s amazing when you think about it. George IV had the Grand Service on his tables. But I love that it’s all in use – it’s what all these pieces were designed for. I feel that by keeping them in working order we’re playing a part in history’
Everything from the mid-18th-century chairs to the 1787 Tournai dinner plates are part of a working collection. ‘It’s amazing when you think about it,’ says Lizzie Keay, the Care of the Collection Steward. ‘George IV had the Grand Service on his tables. But I love that it’s all in use – it’s what all these pieces were designed for.’ She explains that staf are rigorously trained in conservation, and cleaning is done using traditional tools – a pony-hair brush for the silver gilt; a hog-hair brush for marble sculptures. ‘I feel that by keeping them in working order we’re playing a part in history.’
While the frst and second courses – usually fsh followed by meat – are served on silver-gilt plates, the pudding, prepared by the Royal Pastry Chef, and fruit course are served on a porcelain service (either Tournai or a Minton service made in 1877). Each guest is served fve diferent wines, starting with champagne, chosen by the Clerk of the Royal Cellars and Yeoman of the Royal Cellars, along with the Head of Government Hospitality. These are bought in for the event and paid for by the government.
Dinner normally takes one hour and 20 minutes. At the end of the meal 12 pipers process around the room – a tradition started by Queen Victoria – and the guests depart for cofee and handmade petits fours in the State Rooms. The room is stripped down in
two hours. Washing up is done by hand. ‘We might be in a grand setting but some parts of hospitality are always the same; dishes are dishes,’ McEvoy says.
The Queen’s outft is an integral part of the planning. Like the Office, the dressers’ department has been recreated for the exhibition. Angela Kelly, Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser to the Queen since 2002, has provided copies of her sketches and on the shelves is tweed, silk and cotton fabric that is going to be used for the Queen’s wardrobe this year, along with hats and the wooden blocks used to create their shapes.
Fundamental to the exhibition is highlighting how the Queen has made the palace more accessible. ‘Events at Buckingham Palace have changed from being only for aristocracy; now people from all walks of life come,’ Reynolds says. Last year 45 per cent of honours awarded were for community work.