{"id":257969,"date":"2025-07-12T04:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T04:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/257969\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T04:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T04:11:14","slug":"inside-the-surprising-royal-table-rules-the-british-royal-family-follows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/257969\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Surprising Royal Table Rules the British Royal Family Follows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This week, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte visited the U.K. for the first time in 17 years. The Macrons stayed at Windsor Castle as guests of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and on July 8th, a banquet was held in their honor at St. George’s Hall.<\/p>\n

The state banquet included three courses\u2014at least one of which was prepared by chef Raymond Blanc<\/a>\u2014plus dessert, and so many different beverages that each table setting had to have five glasses. Which made us wonder\u2014why? What exactly does a royal table setting entail? Here\u2019s what we found out: <\/p>\n

The Food<\/p>\n

According to the Independent<\/a>, the table took staff six days to prepare. Typically, the menu for a State Banquet leans heavily on local ingredients, procured on royal properties. For the Macron visit, the banquet included vegetables and herbs from the garden, as well as \u201cSupreme of Rhug Estate Chicken with Norfolk Asparagus and Tarragon Cream, followed by Iced Blackcurrant Parfait on a Blackcurrant-soaked Sponge with Elderflower Jelly for dessert.\u201d The menu, per tradition, was written in French.<\/p>\n

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Pool – Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Setting<\/p>\n

Typically, when a State Banquet is held at St. George\u2019s Hall<\/a>, a 164-foot, horseshoe shaped table is set using the Grand Service<\/a>, made from silver-gilt when George IV was the Prince of Wales\u2013from 1762\u20131830. However, for the Macron visit, the royals eschewed the horseshoe shape in favor of one long 50-meter mahogany table with guests sitting on either side. But, the china was still on display.<\/p>\n

The China<\/p>\n

In the set are \u201c140 dishes, 288 dinner plates, 118 salts, 12 ice pails, 58 dessert stands and centrepieces and 107 candelabra,\u201d according to the Royal Collection Trust<\/a>, and the \u201cservice is so large and so magnificent that it has never been replaced.\u201d Though a few updates have been made over the years, like the addition of Kings Charles’s cipher<\/a> to the gold-edged<\/a> side plates.
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Pool – Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Glasses<\/p>\n

When the table is set, the space between each item is measured<\/a>, inspected by staff (and, historically, by the Queen), and the napkins are folded in the Dutch bonnet style<\/a>. As for all those glasses? They’re for wine<\/a>, red and white, water, a bespoke, event-specific<\/a> cocktail, and champagne for a toast<\/a>. Though we\u2019re seeing five glasses, typically, there\u2019s a sixth. Did someone go without port? Perhaps. Times change.<\/p>\n

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