12:00AM, Wednesday 29 July 2015
Next time you lay the table for Christmas dinner or a family meal, count yourself lucky you're not expecting a President for tea - or the Queen for that matter, writes Nicola Hine. The secrets of state banquet preparations are being revealed in a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace, and they are an eye-opening insight into life behind the curtains of the royal household.
A Royal Welcome is part of the annual Summer Opening of the Palace, and features displays showing the work that goes in to hosting guests at state visits, garden parties, investitures, receptions and private audiences with Her Majesty.
The exhibition's showstopper is the palace ballroom, which is set up ready for a banquet and allows visitors to walk the length of a horseshoe-shaped table set for 170 guests, who each have exactly 46cms of space.
It takes 10 days to prepare for a banquet, which takes place on the first night of a state visit - planning for the visit itself begins about a year in advance - and table laying alone starts three days before.
Some 2,000 pieces of silver gilt cutlery are laid out for the four courses guests will consume: fish, meat, dessert and fruit.
There are six glasses per person on the table, for Champagne, water, red wine, white wine, the dessert course and port, and crockery comes from King George IV's 4,000-piece Grand Service.
Dinner is served by the light of more than 100 candles and decorations include seasonal fruit displays and 23 flower arrangements.
But you can forget piling everything into the dishwasher at the end of the evening - it all has to be washed by hand.
The Queen, who, naturally, sits at the top table at a state banquet, has welcomed 110 heads of state on formal visits to Britain, including hosting the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, at Windsor Castle last year.
During 2014, the royal family welcomed more than 62,000 guests to Buckingham Palace.
More than 340 receptions, luncheons and dinners were held, at which nearly 11,500 people were entertained.
Then there are the three garden parties per year which take place in the palace grounds, each of which has 8,000 guests.
A glimpse into these is provided at the exhibition too, in the form of a selection of the Queen's colourful outfits - always brightly coloured so she stands out from the crowd.
Other highlights of A Royal Welcome include the privilege of entering the State Rooms through the Grand Entrance, normally used by visiting Heads of State and Prime Ministers, and from which the Queen departs by carriage for ceremonial processions.
To reflect this, the Australian State Coach, given by the country as a gift to mark its bicentenary in 1988, is on display just outside.
You may be interested to know it has electric windows.
The exhibition takes guests through the State Rooms, which make up just 19 of the palace's 775 rooms (it has 78 bathrooms), and include the Green Drawing Room, featuring a series of stunning chandeliers made of droplets of hand-cut glass, the Throne Room, where you can see the two thrones used by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at the coronation in 1953, and the 47-metre Picture Gallery, created to showcase George IV's art collection.
More of the Queen's outfits are showcased in a replica dressmaker's workroom and some of the gifts received by the Queen during state visits are on display.
An insight into the royal kitchen is also provided at the exhibition, where you can see the copper molds used to make 'chocolate bombe' desserts, as well as chocolate decorations cast from the footmen's livery buttons and painted gold to replicate the real thing.
Anna Reynolds, of the Royal Collection Trust, curator of A Royal Welcome, said: "A visit to Buckingham Palace at the invitation of the Queen is an extremely special experience.
"Through the displays and film presentations, we show the planning, preparation and presentation that make these occasions so magnificent and so memorable."
A Royal Welcome is part of a visit to the Summer Opening of the State Rooms and is open daily, from 9.30am to 7.30pm until August 31 and until 6.30pm between September 1 and 27.
Click here for details.
Watch a time-lapse video of the state banquet table being laid below:
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