Menu dated 24th June 1901



Dinner at the Palais Prince Albrecht, Berlin, hosted by His Royal Highness Prince Albrecht of Prussia, Regent of the Duchy of Brunswick.

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Guests invited to this Princely dinner in 1901 were spoiled with a delicately flavoured mousse made from the breast of the tiny thrush. Thrushes were a highly sought after small bird of the era; and considered a great delicacy with their flavour attributed to a diet of grapes, juniper berries and peas.

The dinner host, Prince Albrecht of Prussia, was a known gourmet with significant investments in vineyards along the Rhine, trout breeding at his Seitenberg Palace in Silesia; and coffee plantations in the Usambara mountains in East Africa.

This dinner took place at his Berlin residence, the Prince Albrecht Palais, pictured at the top left of the menu, which was destroyed in World War II. The palace was named after his father, of the same name, who was brother to Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Prince Albrecht’s other residences are depicted on the menu including the Schloss Kamenz and Schloss Seitenberg in then Silesia (Poland) and, at the bottom of the menu, the Schloss Reinhardshausen in Erbach in Hesse.

In his memoirs the former Imperial Chancellor, Prince Bernhard von Bülow recounted how he thought:

“Prince Albrecht of Prussia was a sensible man with a simple, sober intelligence, a kind heart, and a noble disposition. The older generation called him “Prince Albrecht the Son,” to distinguish him from  'Prince Albrecht the Father', the youngest son of King Frederick William III and the beautiful Queen Louise”.

On particularly special occasions, guests of the Prince would dine from a gold table service, for 24 settings, that had once belonged to Emperor Napoleon I.