Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth attended a historic dinner at 10 Downing Street on Monday, for only the fifth time during her 50 years on the throne, to mark the start of the official celebrations for her Golden Jubilee.
The royal couple headed a guest list that included five former prime ministers, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, and Michael Martin, the speaker of the House of Commons. Prime Minister Tony Blair played host, chose the chef and devised a specially-prepared menu – in consultation with Buckingham Palace – which included rare ports, fine clarets, duck breasts, turbot steaks and seasonal vegetables. The relatives of five other prime ministers who have served during the monarch’s reign, but who have since died, were also in attendance.
The event means the Queen has now dined at 10 Downing Street in every decade since her accession to the throne in 1952, except the 1960s. Protocol has always dictated that prime ministers went to see the monarch rather than the other way round, but the convention was broken during the Second World War when Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, dined informally at Downing Street with wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and his cabinet.
The Queen’s first such occasion came on April 4, 1955, on the eve of the resignation of Churchill, her first prime minister. Twenty years later, in 1976, she attended a second time for a farewell dinner for Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The monarch was invited by “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher in 1985 to mark the 250th anniversary of Downing Street becoming home to British Prime Ministers and the penultimate occasion was in 1996 for the 90th birthday of former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, with then-Prime Minister John Major as host.
Sir Edward Heath, who was in attendance last night, said of the Queen: “She has always been quite frank, but also recognised that the way in which the sovereign can put these things is governed by tradition.
“It will be a very pleasant session tonight,” he added. “I am sure. The Queen and Prince Philip, when they are at a little dinner like this, are talking absolutely freely in general terms, but this doesn’t mean they are trying to lay the law down to us or country.”
On Tuesday, the monarch is scheduled to give a personally-written speech to both Houses of Parliament to mark her Golden Jubilee. Again, it is only the fifth time the Queen has made such an address, and on this occasion she will outline events planned for the celebrations to politicians gathered in Westminster Hall.
As part of the celebrations, the BBC will be premiering footage of some of the Queen’s attempts at home movie making as part of a four-part series, Queen & Country, beginning on Wednesday. The footage was shot by Queen Elizabeth while returning on the Royal Yacht Britannia from a world tour in 1954.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
