Royal
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Un potage Duchesse
Cream of potato soup
Un potage de mouton à l'Anglaise
Mutton and vegetable soup based on a white stock
Huitres d'Angleterre au naturel
English oysters served naturally on crushed ice
Merluches à l'eau de sel au beurre fondu, sauce d'anchois liée
Salted Hake in butter with an anchovy sauce
Longe de veau à la broche au jus, garnie de pommes de terre à la béchamelle
Spit-roasted loin of veal with potatoes in a Béchamel sauce (created by Louis de Béchamel, Marquis de Nointel and Maitre d´Hotel to King Louis XIV of France) made from veal stock, cream, butter and flour
Une timbale de macaroni à la Parisienne
Layers of macaroni, chicken, chervil, mushrooms and mayonnaise topped with sliced truffles and tarragon leaves
Laitues farcies, garnies de Saucissons de Francfort
Lettuce stuffed with forcemeat poached in white stock served with Frankfort sausages made from smoked beef and veal
Chevreuil rôti à la gelée de groseilles
Roast Venison served with redcurrant jelly
Une compote de poires
Pears poached in vanilla-bean syrup
Une fanchonette à la vanille
Puff-pastry coated with meringue and filled with vanilla cream
Glaces à l'orange
Orange sorbet
Menu dated 25th March 1845
Dinner at the Leine Palace (Leineschloss), hosted by His Majesty King Ernst August I of Hanover.
In 1837 the English Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Ernest Augustus, became the King of Hanover courtesy of a quirk of law that prevented Queen Victoria - as a woman – from taking the dual throne of Hanover alongside that of Britain.
Therefore when Queen Victoria ascended the British throne, her uncle the Duke Cumberland and Teviotdale, ascended the Hanoverian throne as the absolute monarch of the small German Kingdom - “no larger than a fourpenny bit”, he once declared.
On 28th June 1837, eight days into his reign, the now King Ernst August I arrived in his realm and became the first resident monarch of Hanover in over a century.
With the arrival of a resident King to Hanover, also came the arrival of royal banquets to Hanover.
“I had the honour that night of being admitted, with my wife, to supper in the renowned Ritter-saal”, recounted the King’s personal Court Chaplain, on one of his early audiences with the King, the Reverend Allix Wilkinson.
“It was, I believe, the most beautiful banqueting-hall belonging to any sovereign in Europe. It was hung round above with the portraits of the Dukes of Brunswick from the earliest times, and below with full-length pictures of all the Electors of Hanover who had borne the royal title from George I. to King Ernest.
“Down the middle of the hall was a long table, holding about six and thirty, where the king entertained his royal guests, the Diplomatic Corps and their ladies, the full generals and other high dignitaries, as far as there was room. On each side were round tables, holding about a dozen, where persons made their own little parties, and so fully enjoyed themselves.
“On that long table was displayed all the gold and silver plate for which Hanover was so distinguished. In the centre was a large plateau with St. George and the Dragon, made specially for King Ernest by Hunt and Roskell, and said to be worth four thousand guineas. Every consol-table round the hall, every chandelier, every bracket for candles (of which there were thousands), every frame of the numerous mirrors was of massive silver”. - Reverend Allix Wilkinson, Court Chaplain to the King.
Extracts from the memoirs of the
Rvd. Allix Wilkinson
Court Chaplain to
His Majesty the King of Hanover
Following are extracts from the memoirs (published in 1887) of the Reverend Allix Wilkinson who had served as the personal Court Chaplain to His Majesty King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover.
On the King's English-influenced
daily dining routine:
“The king was very abstemious. He had his cup of tea and toast in the morning before he got up. At one o'clock he dined, day after day, upon one or at most two mutton chops.
I remember, before the railway was open, when a special courier was sent to England the first week in every month, there was a general order for him to bring the joint of beef, with the underside, cooked at an open English fireplace.
'The Germans spoilt their meat,' the king said, 'in their closed stoves. The sodden stuff" was nothing like English roast beef.'... His Majesty used to dine for a week together upon a slice or two of this cold meat that had been cooked in England. Then at five he received his guests, and took some light ' plat,' perhaps some oysters and some jelly, with a glass or two of champagne. A cup of tea, with a biscuit, in the evening completed the day's repast".
About the wine taster:
"... there is always a servant to taste every bottle of wine that is opened, however many the guests, at a royal fete, for fear of a corked one being served".
On the King of Hanover as a dinner host:
"At large dinners at the palace, say twenty guests and upwards, conversation was free and general, and one talked to one's neighbour openly, as one did anywhere else; and so, with pleasant neighbours, nothing could be more enjoyable than a royal banquet; but, at a small round table, all depended upon the king, and his health, and manner and mood on that day.
As every word could be heard all round, nobody spoke unless the king spoke; and so, if His Majesty was not well, or on the other hand, if His Majesty was well and in spirits, he was sure to take a good lead, and, with all his questions, and anecdotes, and jokes, which His Majesty sincerely loved, particularly if there was (as there was almost sure to be for some one) a spice of banter, all went ' merry as a marriage bell,' except perhaps for the person who was shy, and could not see or take a joke, or became worried and overwhelmed in his answers, in which case he was sure to get deeper into the mud, to the delight of the king, and of course the sympathy of His Majesty's surroundings".
About a Royal Ball:
"One evening there was a grand court and ball at the castle. The ladies were arranged according to their rank, and it was always most amusing to watch them as the old king came down the line. Some stood stiff as pokers, all military attention, and salute, which they had learnt from their husbands; some smiled languishingly, in hopes (generally vain in these cases) of being honoured with a few words from royal lips; some 'grinned horribly a ghastly smile,' in actual terror of the king saying anything to them, which they felt they would not know how to answer; some actually wriggled in their nervousness, and trembled before the great man, who, they knew, could be a great bully if he was in such humour, or bad humour, and saw anything to find fault with ; some bowed down like Turks as the king passed, as if it was a sin to look upon royalty some drew themselves up motionless as statues, or as the large, white porcelain stoves so common in the palace".