Food and the Royals

[Curryong]

The recent discussion on foods, Invalid and otherwise, led me to thinking about royal diets. Of course royalty, from time immemorial, has always had the best of everything, meats, game from their estates, fruits from their orchards and vegetables from their Palace kitchen gardens. As well as a great many imported foods of course.

That doesn?t necessarily mean that Kings and their guests necessarily ate healthily though, especially when the monarch is a gourmand like Edward VIII. I?ve just discovered a wonderful site that features selected menus from the monarchs of more than a dozen countries ranging from the Emperors of Russia and Austria to Wilhelmina of the Netherlands to the Kings of Saxony and Bavaria.

So, below, courtesy of the Royal Menus site, is a dinner given on the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert in 1902 for the Shah of Persia, who was expecting the Garter but got a signed photo of the new King Edward VII (his host) and a meal that seems to have consisted of mainly fried and/or heavily sauced items. Typical!

The menus are all in French, naturally, but translated, and with photos and some descriptions of guests and surroundings with each.

Royal Menus - Shah Persia - 1902 | Royal Menus

[TLLK]

Wow what a fantastic find @Curryong and thank you for sharing it. Have to say though that the menu is so rich that I'm a bit queasy reading it.

[Macrobug67]

That?s a rather large luncheon, lots of fish.  I started to wander away from the original link - ended up reading all about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.  I love meanders through the internet - try to remember what the original site was  :laugh:

I would love to find out more about 18th century menus. 

[Macrobug67]

Wow what a fantastic find @Curryong and thank you for sharing it. Have to say though that the menu is so rich that I'm a bit queasy reading it.

I got a little queasy at the mayo and fish mounds. 

[Curryong]

There don?t seem to be any menu cards from the 18th century that are online. However, I did read an article that said that menus from George II?s reign are in the process of being digitalised, after a large and greasy book from the 1720s was found, so maybe in a year or two....

Ironically descriptions of medieval and Tudor banquets in England abound online. Things then seem to skip with few exceptions to the 1840s, Victoria and Albert and beyond as far as English royalty is concerned. I?ll keep on looking for European royalty menus especially.

However, this article (seems to be part of a summer online Uni course) from the 1790s is interesting, and a great contrast to the menus on the other site I linked. Very simple menus for George III, his wife and daughters in the 1780s while he was recovering at Kew from one of his bouts of insanity. Scroll right down and you?ll see a couple of menus for their family dining.

(All meals in the 18th century and previously were served a la francaise of course, with all the dishes for a particular course placed on the table, and guests serving each other and themselves, not a la Russe, which is how we eat in restaurants etc now. That only came in around the 1850s, as you can see from very old Mrs Beeton cookbooks where she lays out the food to be served in illustrations.) 

George?s diet

[Curryong]

Dining with the Sun King in 17th century France.

Dining with the Sun King?. ? Party like 1660

[Macrobug67]

18th Century Cooking | Savoring the Past

18th century food for the non-Royal

[wannable]

This Royal Heritage Cookbook has a 4.2/5 stars.

The Royal Heritage Cookbook: Recipes from High Society and the Royal Court Hardcover
by The Hon. Sarah Macpherson (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars    15 ratings

During the 18th century...

The Honorable Sarah Macpherson placed the old 18th century recipes and next to it placed the modern ingredient names and measurements in order to recreate them. The 50 recipes are from the Royal courts and high society of Britain and Ireland.

[Curryong]

Young Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands gave a gala dinner at The Hague for the delegates to the 1907 International Peace Conference.

Royal Menus - Netherlands - Queen | Royal Menus

Guests were treated to turtle and sherry soup, roast saddles of wild-boar, quails, ducks and young salmon all finished off with decorative small gondola-boats made from apricot ice-cream and filled with pear and apple poached with cinnamon.

[LouisFerdinand]

Prinzregentorte is a multi-layered cake with chocolate butter cream named in honor of Prince Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria. Luitpold was the Regent from 1886 to 1912.

[Curryong]

Prinzregentorte is a multi-layered cake with chocolate butter cream named in honor of Prince Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria. Luitpold was the Regent from 1886 to 1912.

Sounds delicious though no good for the waistline. Luitpold was of course Regent after the mental illness, incarceration then death of King Ludwig II (the Swan King of Bavaria) and his younger brother, the misnamed ?Merry Otto?.

[TudorQueen]

Yes between his two nephews he was prince regent for over 26 years (3 days for Ludwig and 26 years for Otto).

I don't think I should have discovered this thread. Its making me hungry and craving chocolate.

[Curryong]

A look at Queen Victoria?s appetites, which included food, especially sweet desserts.

Queen Victoria's Sex Life & A Closer Look At Her Appetites - HistoryExtra

?Mulled wine, ice creams, cakes, and pastries of all sorts were an enduring pleasure. According to the anonymous account from 1901, she had a great appetite for: ?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.? ?Her Majesty?, it added, ?is very fond of all kinds of pies, and a cranberry tart with cream is one of her favourite dishes?.?

Probably all eaten at the same time!

[Curryong]

And Prince Philip?s favourite dessert, lovely crepes including fruit from Sandringham. 

Prince Philip's favourite dessert had a sentimental twist | HELLO!

[Curryong]

A teatime favourite of Queen Elizabeth, lemon drizzle cake. It sounds scrumptious!

The Queen's favourite lemon drizzle cake recipe revealed | HELLO!

[Curryong]

One of Prince Philip?s favourite dishes, no doubt using salmon from Balmoral when available!

Former Royal Chef Reveals Prince Philip's Fave Meal And The Funniest Moments With The Duke - YouTube

[Curryong]

?Frogs, puffins and songbirds?. Royal menu favourites of King George II and his Court in 18th century Britain.

Frogs And Puffins! 1730s Menus Reveal Royals Were Extreme Foodies : The Salt : NPR