Dinner Seating Plan dated 25th September 1897

 

Seating plan for a dinner hosted by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales (future Queen Alexandra) aboard the Royal Yacht Osborne moored in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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This dinner took place aboard the Royal Yacht Osborne which was built in 1870 for King Edward VII, prior to his accession to the throne, while he was the Prince of Wales.

 

The Royal Yacht Osborne, which was a paddle yacht, had arrived in Copenhagen in September 1897 for use by the Princess of Wales who was already in Denmark having attended the royal wedding of her niece, Princess Ingeborg.

 

The yacht was also ferrying two of her daughters and arrived simultaneously with her husband, the Prince of Wales, who had travelled by royal train from his annual ‘cure’ in Marienbad, where he had been travelling incognito as “Lord Renfrew”.

 

The Princess of Wales, the hostess of this dinner, was the daughter of the King of Denmark and sister of the Dowager Empress of Russia. As this dinner seating plan shows, the wedding provided an opportunity for members of the English royal and Russian imperial families to have an extended vacation in Denmark as a part of a family reunion.

 

The Princess of Wales did not finally depart Denmark until the 19th October.

 

Three years before this dinner in the London Weekly, one of the Prince of Wales guests described dinner aboard the Royal Yacht Osborne while attending the annual regatta at Cowes:

 

“Some twenty guests were present and a beautiful sight was presented when we were all seated at table. Lovely fruits and flowers graced the board. Beautiful ladies and famous men in the highest spirits surrounded it.

 

“The glass sides to the saloon were withdrawn, and we sat at dinner in the midst of a fairy scene. Already some of the yachts had begun their illuminations. The town of Cowes and the quay were gay with coloured lights. Beautiful music was being discoursed from the upper deck.” – The London Weekly, August 1894.