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| Waddesdon Manor, image from Wikimedia Commons |
Some time in 1890, Queen Victoria arrived at Waddeston Manor, the country home of the wealthy Rothschild family, where a lunch was hosted in her honor. She arrived by train at Aylesbury from Windsor and a banquet befitting her station and appetite awaited her at this “beautiful French-inspired house.”
It was a handsome lunch. The Guardian revealed that only the finest soup, jellied trout and rice with prawns, quail stuffed with truffles and foie gras, chicken, beef, duck, asparagus, wonderful Viennese doughnuts, sweet soufflés decorated with gold leaf were painstakingly prepared for this occasion.
It was customary that royals should have their own dining area, separate from other guests, as such the queen ate at the main dining room together with her daughters, surrounded by the family's priceless tapestries. Everyone else consumed their fare in a smaller dining room. The Royal Artillery Band played enlivening tunes between the two rooms.
The queen enjoyed the lunch and the host, Lord Ferdinande de Rothschild later remarked about the queen’s zest for fine dining: “The royal appetite is proverbial, and it was not until about half past three that the Queen … reappeared.” She could not help but take a second helping of cold beef, her favorite, the baron’s butler would later remark.
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| The menu of Queen Victoria's lunch at Waddesdon Manor. |
The meal made quite an impression on the queen, that Pippa Shirley, Waddesdon’s head of collection and gardens now remarked: “We know that she sent people from Windsor to learn secrets from the Waddesdon kitchen. The standard of cuisine was very, very high.”
Of this royal visit, only the menu card survives to retell the lavish meal prepared for Queen Victoria. This meal is one of the highlights a new exhibit which reveals the history and secrets of the kitchen at one of Britain’s grandest country houses.
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