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Two days before this dinner, the German Emperor arrived at Cowes on the Isle of Wight for the annual Regatta to personally race his newly acquired and renamed racing yacht, Meteor, in the Queen’s Cup.
At 10am on 1st August a column of smoke, off the coast of Cowes, announced that Kaiser Wilhelm II, aboard the imperial yacht “SMY Kaiser Adler”, was approaching the Solent.
Cowes, remembered the former Queen of Romania, "was a delightful little seaport town, with narrow streets, wooden-faced houses and what I seem to remember as ravishing shops”. It was also home to one of Queen Victoria’s favourite residences, Osborne House.
As Wilhelm II and his brother Prince Henry of Prussia entered the channel they were greeted with royal salutes from the guardship Bellerophon, the German frigate Moltke and the Royal Yacht Squadron Castle. The Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) and the Dukes of York (future King George V) and Connaught then went aboard to greet the German Emperor before he later took his 14-oared barge ashore.
“After warm greetings and hearty handshakes were exchanged”, reported The New York Times, the Emperor was “driven to Osborne House in an open carriage drawn by the Queen’s four grays. These animals are used only on special occasions”.
At Osborne, Queen Victoria was waiting to greet her imperial grandson.
The next morning, after 6 hours 37 minutes and 3 seconds – and having led the entire race - the Meteor with the German Emperor at the helm, was first to cross the line in the prestigious ‘Queen’s Cup’. The visiting German naval ships, anchored off the coast, boomed their cannons in celebration of German seafaring prestige.
But the cheering and backslapping came to halt not 20 minutes later when “Corsair” sailed past the last buoy to be declared winner based on its 27-minute handicap.
Perhaps Queen Victoria thought some royal mollycoddling was required. The following night the Queen hosted this dinner at Osborne in honour of the German Emperor.
“Queen Victoria usually spent July and August at Osborne, where she entertained a great deal during Cowes week”, remembered a royal chef, Gabriel Tschumi.
The estates making up Osborne had been acquired piecemeal by Queen Victoria since 1844 with the final Osborne House being completed in 1851.
The dinner started with a crayfish bisque, that Queen Victoria preferred to be flavoured with Dutch brandy (Vieux), with a succession of dishes leading up to roast quails with artichokes in a white wine and butter sauce.
The Court Circular confirms the dinner was also attended by the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII), and Prince Henry of Prussia along with members of the German delegation including Count [future Prince] Eulenberg and the German Ambassador, Count Hatzfeldt.
During the Kaiser's six day visit for the Cowes Regatta, he dined four times with Queen Victoria at Osborne including for dinner on 1st, 3rd and 5th, and for a farewell lunch on 6th before departing for home at 3:40pm. On 2nd August the Kaiser hosted a lunch aboard his imperial yacht "SMY Kaiser Adler"; and on the 4th the Duke of Connaught hosted him aboard the Royal Yacht "Victoria & Albert".
s the crayfish bisque was being served, the Kaiser was likely still a little bit miffed.
A
Her Majesty's Dinner
Bisque d'Ecrevisses: Crayfish bisque flavored with Dutch brandy (vieux) | Potage a la Royale: Chicken consommé garnished with shredded royale (thin savoury egg custard pieces) | Les Truites Sauce Hollandaise: Trout dressed in Hollandaise sauce | Les Filets de Soles frits: Crumbed and fried filets of sole | Les Rissolles de Ris de Veau: Fried half-moon shaped puff pastries filled with minced veal sweetbreads mixed with a tomato fondue; and served with chopped parsley and lemon | Les Filets de Volaille à la Gelée: Chicken fillets set in aspic jelly | Le Beouf braise, sauce au persil: Braised beef dressed in Persil sauce made from butter, parsley and lemon juice | Roast Beef | Les Cailles bardeés: Boned roast quails larded with bacon fat and stuffed with foie-gras | Les Artichauts à al Lyonnaise: Artichokes tossed in butter and onion sauce reduced with white wine | Les Beignets de Crême frits: Deep fried choux pastries piped with vanilla cream and dusted in sugar | La Bombe à la St Anne: Ice-cream dome with a core of caramel custard mixed with crushed almond macaroons; and an outer layer of vanilla ice-cream; and coated with toasted almonds and chopped crystallised fruits | Side Table: Roast Fowl - Tongue - Cold Beef | Glace a la Crême de Vanille: Vanilla ice-cream.
Royal Menu Collection / © Jake Smith
The Kaiser's racing yacht "Meteor" photographed in 1896 with the German Emperor's standard flying aloft.
(Photo: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Gould Collection
Queen Victoria arrives at Cowes Regatta in 1897 with daughters Princess Beatrice & Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (and the Queen's 'four grays').
(Photo: Royal Collection Trust
© His Majesty King Charles III, 2026)
An audience with Queen Victoria at Osborne
In August 1900 Lady Waddington, wife of the French Ambassador, recounted being invited for tea with Queen Victoria at Osborne:
" There were two or three policemen standing near the gate and in the park. The park is pretty—not very large but beautifully green, and as we got near the house, quantities of flowers—a mass of colour. The house is not handsome—rather imposing, a large grey stone house with two wings, and flower-beds close up to the windows. Three or four footmen in plain black livery were waiting in the hall, and they took me at once upstairs to the ladies' drawing-room— a nice room at the side of the house not looking out to sea. The Duchess of Roxburghe was waiting for me, and we talked about fifteen minutes. Then came a Highland servant saying, "Her Majesty was ready to receive Lady Waddington."
The Duchess and I went downstairs, walked through various galleries, and stopped at a door where there was no servant. The Duchess knocked, the Queen's voice said, "Come in," and I found myself in a beautiful large salon, all the windows opening on the sea.
The Queen, dressed as usual in black, was seated in the middle of the room facing the door. I had barely time to make one curtsey—she put out her hand and made me sit down next to her. She spoke to me first in French (just as she always did when I was at the Embassy—to mark, I suppose, that I was the French Ambassadress), "Je suis tres heureuse de vous revoir— I think we can speak English —how much has happened since we met" ; and then we talked about all sorts of things.
I thought she looked extremely well—of course I couldn't tell if her sight was gone, as she knew I was coming and I sat close to her. Her eyes were blue and clear, and her memory and conversation quite the same...
… we talked on some little time, and when she finally dismissed me, she said, "I hope you will come back to England, and whenever you do I shall be very glad to see you." She shook hands— I backed myself to the door, opened it, and there found the Highland servant, who took me back to the drawing-room where the Duchess of Roxburghe was waiting…. "
Lady Waddington
Dining Room [and footman] at Osborne during the reign of Queen Victoria
Photo: Royal Collection Trust
© His Majesty King Charles III, 2026