All Eyes On Catherine

There are few people who do “pomp” better than the British and this was proved, yet again, yesterday when the Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in London.  He and his wife were met by the Queen and apparently taken to their suite at the Palace by Queen Elizabeth herself.

A full day was had by all.  They paraded through the streets of London in carriages and cars and the President and his wife were the guests of Prince Charles and Camilla for tea at Clarence House.

Last evening the Duchess of Cambridge helped roll out the red carpet for these celebrated guests at a banquet (in the highest sense of the word) at Buckingham Palace.  While the Duchess of Cambridge is now a polished public performer, she had to prepare carefully for the engagement.

Around 170 guests dined in the palace ballroom, sitting around a horseshoe-shaped table, laden with flower decorations, candelabra and six glasses per person – for water, a champagne toast, red and white wines, a dessert wine and port.

It takes three days to lay the table and the Queen, a meticulous hostess, likes to run her eye over the preparations.

Kate was given notes on where she would be sitting (notice she is two seats away from The Queen) and who would be sitting next to her (The Chinese President himself!).

The Countess of Wessex recalls that on one occasion she wasn’t in her place by the time the Queen was about to start her speech.  “I shan’t forget the look I got when I couldn’t find my chair and she was looking to do her speech,” she joked during ITV’s documentary Our Queen.  “I decided I might study the notes a little more carefully next time.”

The Queen was brought up with old style table manners, which she still finds useful to negotiate tricky situations. These require that she speak to the person on her left for the first course, changing to the right for the second, alternating for each subsequent course.

Lewis Hamilton revealed how the royal matriarch instructed him on etiquette when he attended a state banquet.

“I was excited and started to talk to her but she said, pointing to my left, ‘No, you speak that way first and I’ll speak this way and then I’ll come back to you’.”

Guest are advised to start with the cutlery that is on the outside of their place setting and work their way in. They are served from 19 stations that are set up around the room and manned by four staff – a page, footman, under butler and a wine butler.

Female royals are expected to wear formal evening gowns and tiaras. The elegant brunette has only worn a tiara on two previous occasions.  How very wonderful to have many tiaras to choose from!

Now, certainly, we did not see the Royal Family Order of Elizabeth II, a sign of the monarch’s personal esteem, pinned to Catherine’s beautiful red Jenny Packham dress.

We had mentioned in a previous post that the press seemed to think that this honour was bestowed on Catherine last month when they visited William’s grandmother, The Queen, at Balmoral.

But, and a big but it is, it was nowhere to be seen.  We will keep you posted on that one!

A wonderful evening – full to the brim with joy, we feel sure!  Isn’t it super to dress up, we mean REALLY dress up, and go out somewhere special?  Or, if you do not have somewhere special to really dress up and go to, have a “Black Tie” dinner party at your own home.  Ask your friends to bring different courses if you do not want to do all of the cooking but CELEBRATE!  Pull out all the stoppers and celebrate life!