The extraordinary rules followed by Buckingham Palace butlers when setting the Queen’s table have been revealed.
Each diner is given 47 centimetres of space, measured to the millimetre, with no exceptions, and the table itself takes at least three days to set.
Each guest has a personal light to illuminate their food, six glasses (water, champagne, white wine, red wine, dessert wine and port) and nine pieces of cutlery.
There are always four courses – fish, meat, pudding and fruit – prepared by 21 chefs and you’ll never run out of wine because the 400-year-old cellars have 25,000 bottles stored within at all times.
These rare insights into life inside Britain’s most famous house have be revealed in A Royal Welcome, a new exhibition which opens this week at Buckingham Palace.
And for the first time in history palace-goers can enter through the Grand Entrance which State heads use when invited by the Queen into the State Rooms.
The Green Drawing Room, Silk Tapestry Room, Gallery and the Large Bow Room – where the Queen appointed Angelina Jolie an honorary Dame – are just some of the rooms open to the public.
While the Australian Coach – which was gifted to the Queen by the nation in 1988 to mark the bicentenary – is also on show. Well, a modernised version of it.
