10 Facts about dinner with the Queen Behind the Scenes at Windsor Castle State Banquet
Guests arrive for a State banquet at in St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle. The table can be set for 160 guests. Staff use rulers to measure each place setting so that the table will look neat in photographs or from galleries above. The gold setting is reserved for coronations.
Twice a year, Queen Elizabeth II hosts a State Banquet in honour of a visiting head of state. In recent years, at least one of the banquets has been at Windsor Castle. Then President, Nicolas Sarkozy was entertained at Windsor Castle. In November 2012, the honour went to the Amir of Kuwait, making an official visit to the UK Invited guests include politicians, high ranking clergymen, members of the diplomatic corps and others with a specific connection to the honoured guest's country. If you manage to get invited, these behind the scenes facts may help you enjoy this rather theatrical occasion: 1. Windsor Castle guests dine at a massive mahogany table The table, which seats 160 people, was made in 1846 and is composed of 68 leaves. To polish it, men in socks stand on it and push padded implements that look like croquet mallets. 2. It takes two days to lay the table That includes setting 2,000 pieces of silver gilt cutlery and 960 glasses. With an eye for possible TV coverage from above, the position of everything on the table is measured with a tape measure. Before the meal begins, chairs are place exactly 27 inches from the table. The Queen herself makes a last minute check of the arrangement. 3. Each guest has five glasses and thirteen pieces of cartulary. There's a champagne glass for the toast, a red wine and a white wine glass, a water goblet, a champagne glass for dessert and a glass for port after dinner. The glasses are from the Order of the Garter and the Coronation sets of crystal. 4. George IV's Grand Service (20 thousand pieces) takes three weeks to clean The Grand Service consists of silver gilt serving pieces, platters, plates, centre pieces, candelabra and special serving utensils. There are 8,000 pieces and each one must be hand washed, dried and polished. It takes a team of eight to do it. 5. One man folds all the napkins No big deal you may say but each of the Queen's 170 linen napkins must be folded exactly, in a shape called a Dutch Bonnet, with the Queen's hand embroidered monogram showing in exactly the same place on each one. 6. Windsor has the oldest working kitchen in Britain No doubt the appliances, utensils and so forth are a bit more up to date than that. And nobody at Windsor Castle - staff or Royals - realised that meals were being prepared in Medieval kitchens, dating from the reign of Edward III. But when fire struck Windsor Castle in 1992, the kitchen ceilings collapsed, revealing the original, 14th century timbered ceiling.