The King has started putting his own stamp on the royal tableware used for state banquets.
Charles’s CIIIR cypher has been added to the delicate glasses – six at each setting – and side plates of the 1953 Coronation Set, replacing the late Queen’s EIIR cypher.
However, with 171 guests dining with the King and Queen in honour of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in the grand Buckingham Palace Ballroom on Tuesday evening, the mammoth task of removing the original markings and re-etching or embossing has yet to be completed.
Glasses on the top section of the horseshoe-shaped table – where the King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales, the president and first lady Kim Keon Hee were seated – featured the updated glasses, but the rest of the glassware has yet to be rebranded in honour of the King’s reign.
Most of the white china side plates – edged in gold – show the King’s new golden cypher in the middle, but a remaining 17 – at the two tail ends of the horseshoe – still bore the late Queen’s EIIR at the top.
Guests including K-pop stars Blackpink – made up of band members Jenni Kim, Jisoo Kim, Lisa Manobal and Rose Park – and Birmingham City footballer Cho So-hyun dined on a menu of warm tartlet of soft poached egg and spinach puree, breast of Windsor pheasant with croquette of celeriac and calvados sauce and salad, with a mango ice cream bombe for dessert.
The King and Queen continued the late Queen’s tradition of personally inspecting the table on Tuesday afternoon to make sure everything was in order.
The in-house Palace florists created displays of vibrant purple, red and pink blooms and foliage from Windsor Home Park and the Orchid Garden at the glasshouses in Windsor.
After the banquet, the flowers will donated to Floral Angels, a charity of which Camilla is patron, based at New Covent Garden Flower Market.
The flowers will then be delivered to hospices, elderly care homes and shelters.
Also on the table were pieces from George IV’s silver-gilt Grand Service, comprised of more than 4,000 items.
Pink sugar-crafted centrepieces, representing the Hibiscus Syriacus – the national flower of the republic of Korea – were presented alongside petit fours.
Footage of the delicate pink floral decorations being hand made in the Palace kitchens were shared on the royal family’s social media account.
“The Kitchens have been busy putting finishing touches to dishes that will be served at tonight’s State Banquet,” the post said.
