Inside Palace of Versailles state banquet: No detail is overlooked as tables are set, silverware polished and final preparations get underway for tonight’s lavish feast
- READ MORE: Charles is greeted with shouts of ‘King’ from Paris balconies
Final preparations are underway at the Palace of Versailles tonight for a banquet honouring King Charles and Queen Camilla.
France has rolled out the red carpet for the monarch’s state visit at one of its most magnificent and emblematic monuments with a grand dinner in the presence of over 150 guests in the Hall of Mirrors.
The menu at tonight’s feast will feature blue lobster, Bresse French poultry with mushroom gratin, and a selection of French and English cheeses, including Comte from France, and Stichelton from Britain.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said tonight’s dinner echoes the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1972, when she was greeted at the Palace by President Georges Pompidou.
Charles liked the idea of following in his mother’s footsteps, according to the President office. The late Queen also visited the palace in 1958 and 10 years earlier, four years before her coronation in 1952.
Final preparations are underway at the Palace of Versailles tonight for a banquet honouring King Charles and Queen Camilla. Pictured are the table settings inside the Hall of Mirrors
France has rolled out the red carpet for the monarch’s state visit at one of its most magnificent and emblematic monuments with a grand dinner in the presence of over 150 guests in the Hall of Mirrors. Pictured are crystal glasses being used at tonight’s feast
Workers are seen placing the final touches on the table settings as guests begin to arrive for a grand dinner at Versailles hosted by President Macron and his wife Brigitte
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron welcome Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla as they arrive for a state dinner at the Chateau de Versailles
French President Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte Macron, Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla pose as they arrive for a state dinner at the Chateau de Versailles
Charles and Queen Camilla’s three-day visit to Paris and Bordeaux – which started today – includes a grand dinner at Versailles hosted by President Macron and his wife Brigitte.
Usually filled with a chaotic crowd of tourists from across the world, the Hall of Mirrors will be closed to visitors today as staff prepared for the royal banquet.
Photographs taken from inside the Palace show how the Hall of Mirrors has been filled with banquet tables lined with crystal glasses, beautiful china and polished silverware.
Workers are seen placing the final touches on the table settings as guests begin to arrive. Hugh Grant and Mick Jagger lead the celebrity arrivals heading to the Palace this evening for the banquet.
France, a country that prides itself on its many fine cheeses, has also decided to honour a British blue cheese by placing it on the menu tonight.
The cheese course will feature France’s Comté and Britain’s Stichelton blue cheese.
Diners will also enjoy blue lobster and crab followed by Bresse poultry and a gratin of cep mushrooms prepared, respectively, by French chefs Anne-Sophie Pic and Yannick Alléno, both awarded three Michelin stars.
For dessert, world-famous pastry chef Pierre Hermé will prepare his rose macaroon cookie, composed of rose petal cream, raspberries and lychees.
Charles’ visit will make one more date in the Palace’s long history starting from King Louis XIII, to the French revolution and all the way to modern times that is being presented on its ground floor into the newly opened Gallery of the History of the Palace.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said tonight’s dinner echoes the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1972. Pictured are King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving at Orly Airport earlier today
A floral display placed in the Palace of Versailles ahead of tonight’s state banquet
A view of the table settings for tonight’s banquet in the Palace of Versailles
Staff are seen in the Hall of Mirrors preparing the final touches for tonight’s banquet
Catherine Pégard, president of the Palace of Versailles, praised the ‘never-ending story’ of the palace that ‘includes visits from French children who come to Versailles with their classes, as well as visits from His Majesty the King of England or tourists who arrive from Asia and are less familiar with the history.’
‘And we have a story to tell each one of them,’ she added.
The palace has recently opened a gallery retracing its history, from its creation as a modest hunting lodge in 1623 to last century’s key diplomatic events – including the visits of Charles’ predecessors.
The gallery has 11 rooms, each thematic and largely chronological, presenting over 120 works aimed at providing visitors from across the world with an immediate understanding of the complex history of the palace.
It brings together recently acquired works alongside paintings and artworks that for many years had gone unseen as they’d been in storage, along with others that are now repositioned and better enhanced.
Laurent Salomé, director of the National Museum of the Palace of Versailles and Trianon, said the exhibit features a number of masterpieces.
‘Our intention was to create a first great moment of pleasure for visitors. First of all, because they’ve travelled a long way. For a long time, they’ve dreamed of Versailles. We didn’t want to give them a boring lesson to start their visit,’ he said.
Some artworks come from the original version of the palace and its gardens under its great builder Louis XIV, who decided to expand his father’s hunting lodge.
It’s ‘a history made by not just one monarch, it’s also an enormous team of artists – and the greatest artists. A good thing about absolute monarchy is to be able to gather all the best people at the same place,’ Salomé stressed.
Hugh Grant and Anna Elisabet Eberstein arrive at the Palace of Versailles ahead of the State Dinner held in honor of King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Louise de Rothschild and David de Rothschild arrive at the Palace of Versailles
General managing director of French container transportation and shipping company CMA CGM Rodolphe Saade (L) and French President of the Franco-British Colloque, Pierre-Andre Chalendar, arrive to attend a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles
Guillaume Gallienne and Amandine Gallienne arrive to attend a state dinner in honour of King Charles and Queen Camilla
Carole Bouquet arrives at the Palace of Versailles ahead of the State Dinner held in honour of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the Hall of Mirrors
Today the Palace contains 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 square meters (679,784 square feet).
The historical gallery also offers the opportunity to discover anecdotes about the Palace’s life – like some panels in the ‘Chinese chamber’ of Queen Marie Leszczynska, Louis XV’s wife, that she in part painted herself.
In the last rooms, visitors can see the famous desk where the 1919 Treaty of Versailles was signed that formally ended World War I, as well as photos and archival video of heads of states and royalty honored at the palace during the 20th century.
‘The idea is also to show that there is a gradual transformation of the Château de Versailles, which has always remained alive through the centuries, from its creation to the present day,’ Salomé said.
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