Royal Family – A Different Kitchen

I must share with you, dear readers, an amazing letter I’ve received in the post this morning.

My excitement rose when I saw the postmark bearing the words Buckingham Palace. It turns out to be a handwritten letter from none other than the Queen Consort, probably still better known to most as Camilla (of Parker-Bowles fame). It goes like this:

Hi Kevin,

Hope you’re keeping well, mate. As you’re probably aware, we have a bit of a do coming up next month, with the Coronation. There’s lots still to organise, including the Afternoon Tea for all the family after the main service – I like to think of it as a bit of a knees-up.

Anyways, the Boss himself has put me in charge of sorting out the nosh. I love following A Different Kitchen, and wondered if I could ask you to bake us a few cakes?

A Dundee Fruit Cake would go down well with the Balmoral set, and you can’t go wrong with choco brownies as far as all the kids are concerned lol. Numbers aren’t final yet – we still don’t know if Harry and the missus will be attending.

Let me know what you can do for us. Keep up the good work, and why not post a few more tracks from the Arctic Monkeys – I’m a big fan.

Cheers,
Camilla

Goodness me! I need your help here, readers. This is my biggest gig since I started the blog, so do please let me have your thoughts by way of comments below, on what I should offer to bake.

In the meantime, here’s a classic track from The Who for the ADK Playlist – Won’t Get Fooled Again.

Tea at the Palace

In 2014 I received an invitation from HM The Queen to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

It was really exciting travelling up to London on the train, and making our way to the Palace. Usually all one gets to see is the famous view from the Mall, on the outside of those imposing railings. How excited we were to be invited through the gates, walk across the courtyard and enter the Palace, making our way through to the vast terrace that overlooks the rear gardens.

The gardens were huge – more like a public park, with paths and beautifully mature planted borders winding off in all directions. While there were many people there for the Garden Party, it was still possible to find yourself alone in a remote corner, and easy to forget that we were actually in the heart of one of the world’s busiest and noisiest capital cities.

A highlight for me was the afternoon tea. I have posted photos of both the menu, and my plate with selections from the finger buffet. You will see from these that I was enjoying the daintily trimmed sandwiches – cucumber, mint and black pepper, and also free range egg mayonnaise with cress. There is also a coronation chicken wrap with spinach and peppers.

The cakes were superb – my plate loaded with Dundee cake, strawberry and cream battenburg, and a chocolate and praline croustillant that bears an edible Royal Crown motif. My choice of drink is an iced coffee.

The members of the Royal Family in attendance were HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (now the Princess of Wales).

I was one of many invitees drawn from public services and the charity sector. An invitation to afternoon tea at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party was the Queen’s way of thanking us for our contribution, day in and day out, to supporting Britain’s local communities. It was a really nice gesture that was warmly received by all of us.

Following the sad events of this week, as a mark of respect I will be taking a short break from posting during the period of national mourning, after which normal service will be resumed.

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