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Menu
Tortue Claire
Turtle Consommé
Créme d’Orge Princesse
Cream of Barley Soup garnished with asparagus tips and truffle slices
Mousses de Merlan à la Dieppoise
Whiting mousse garnished with mushrooms, mussels and shrimps poached in white wine; and dressed in a white sauce topped with a dollop of crayfish butter
Cailles à la Diane
Sautéed boned quails dressed in a Diane sauce - named after the Goddess of Hunting – made from pepper, cream and truffles; served atop croûtons and served with chestnut purée
Agneau de Pauillac à Nivernaise
Lamb from Pauillac in Bordeaux, braised with carrots in red wine and served with turnip shaped into small spheres
Jambon d’York au Champagne
Glazed ham poached in Champagne
Poussins rôtis sur Canapés
Roast boned young chickens served atop croutons and topped with foie-gras
Salade à la Jaucourt
Asperges d’Argenteuil, Sauce Mousseline
White asparagus served with a Mousseline sauce
Péches à la Reine Alexandra
Peach Dessert named after Edward VII’s wife, Queen Alexandra
Gradins de Pâtisseries
Plated of pastries, tarts, wafers and crêpes
Chester Cakes
Small cakes flavoured with golden-syrup, ginger and currants
Paniers de Glaces Bouquetière
Baskets, made from spun-sugar and marzipans, and filled with ice-creams and sorbets shaped into fruits and flowers
Bonbonnières
Baskets, made from spun-sugar and marzipans, filled with petit-fours
Menu dated 10th February 1904
Royal Wedding Banquet, Windsor Castle, hosted by Their Majesties King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom for the marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice of Albany to His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Teck (the future Earl and Countess of Athlone).
Symbolically this wedding of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Alice of Albany, took place in the same St. George’s Chapel at the same Windsor Castle on the same date that Queen Victoria herself was married in 1840.
Princess Alice was the niece of King Edward VII; her father being the King’s brother, Prince Leopold. However her father died prematurely 20 years earlier, so it was left to the King himself to give away the bride.
On this day, crowds gathered outside the royal chapel to witness the arrival of four magnificent processions: the first being the Queen of Württemberg followed by the Queen Mother of the Netherlands; then King Edward VII alongside Queen Alexandra; before the much anticipated arrival of the royal bride.
Following the wedding ceremony, as The Times reported, the King gave a "grand banquet at the Castle in honour of the bride and bridegroom and 8 o'clock". that consisted of 14 courses in the St George’s Hall. The dinner, which started at 8:30pm, commenced with a bowl of turtle consommé garnished with quenelles shaped as turtle-eggs: a highly fashionable dish in royal courts of the day.
“The only special incident”, reported the New York Times in 1904, “was the arrest of an alleged lunatic, who, flourishing a swordstick, molested the guests arriving from London”.
The Bridegroom: His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Teck
The Court Circular: lists Their Majesties Guests staying at Windsor Castle from 8th to 11th February 1904 for the marriage of Princess Alice of Albany
Wedding banquet table in the Dining Room at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Alexander of Teck and Princess Alice of Albany on 10th February 1904
(Photo: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021)
All rights reserved. Jake Smith © 2021