Warwick Royal Upstairs Downstairs


Warwick

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Just how do you prepare when a queen decides she's going to pay you a visit?

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And not any old queen. Victoria.

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And as a chef who loves food, I'll be stirring up things downstairs

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making a 19th-century dish that would have been served to Victoria.

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We'll be delving into Victoria's personal diaries to reveal what happened behind closed doors.

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Today we're not visiting a traditional stately home.

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More a full-blown fortress.

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Warwick Castle.

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And as someone who's spent a lifetime getting excited by antiques,

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I'll be upstairs exploring just what would have excited Victoria on her visit here.

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Wild.

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And, as a chef who loves food, I'll be stirring things up downstairs,

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making a 19th-century dish that would have been served to Victoria,

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and trying it out on Tim's 21st-century tastebuds.

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You're just a genius.

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Victoria and Albert popped in to Warwick Castle

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during their four-day tour to Warwickshire.

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They'd been nearby in Birmingham,

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opening the stately Aston Hall as a tourist attraction.

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But a trip to Warwickshire wouldn't have been complete for the royals

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without a visit to one of England's best-loved castles.

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CHEERING

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Warwick Castle was as much a tourist attraction in 1858 when Victoria and Albert visited, as it is today.

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The Earls of Warwick had been allowing the public into the castle

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for at least 30 years before the Queen popped in.

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And with the coming of the Victorian railway,

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more than 10,000 visitors a year were regularly pitching up here.

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So it was 16th June 1858

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when Victoria and Albert became tourists themselves,

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in order to enjoy this medieval treasure trove.

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The Queen had been on the throne for 21 years

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when she visited Warwick Castle as a day-tripper.

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The Earl of Warwick and his wife,

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hosts for the three-hour visit,

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were originally meant to put them up here,

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but they had the builders in

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so the royal couple stayed with the Leigh family

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at nearby Stoneleigh Abbey.

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This was such a brief visit.

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It was just time for her to have a good snoop and a little lunch,

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but there was still masses of preparation going on downstairs,

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which is where I'm off now.

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And I'm off to take the royal tour around this grand old castle.

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-Bye, Rosemary.

-Bye.

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And with them on their look-about, was Georgina Leigh,

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who they'd been staying with at Stoneleigh Abbey the night before.

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She kept an exquisite journal of the Queen's tour of Warwickshire,

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which includes details of the visit to Warwick Castle.

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She records, "I was told at the last moment

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that I was to be one of the party to Warwick",

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and that her carriage had to take a shortcut to the castle

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in order to get there on time.

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Victoria, meanwhile, took the scenic route,

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with well-wishers cheering her on,

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as this picture from the Illustrated London News Report of the day, shows.

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Victoria arrived through these portcullises

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and into the courtyard or keep of Warwick Castle.

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She records in her journal, "At two, we reached Warwick Castle,

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the position of which, surrounded by trees and just overhanging the Avon,

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is beautiful."

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"The old entrance through the battlements cut out of the wall, is very curious,

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and there's a keep just in the style of the one at Windsor."

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Most of the castle was built some 500 years before Victoria's visit.

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It was owned by the Crown until 1604,

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when it was gifted to a chap called Sir Fulke Greville

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and it was the Grevilles who were eventually given the title of Earls of Warwick,

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and it was them who created a stately home inside the ancient walls,

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transforming the fortress from a cold and uncomfortable place

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into a warm and luxurious stately family home.

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With such a brief visit,

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the Earl of Warwick was keen to impress with a fabulous lunch.

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Over 30 dishes were prepared for Victoria and Albert's feast.

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One of the dishes on the menu was an absolute favourite of mine.

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Mayonnaise de homard,

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a lobster and mayonnaise salad,

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and that's what I'm going to make today.

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I'm going to crack on,

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just as the servants would have done downstairs

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ahead of the Queen's arrival,

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starting with the eggs.

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They had to make their mayonnaise

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because the jars weren't available until 1905,

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and actually, in my opinion, I think home-made mayonnaise tastes better.

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To an egg, I'm adding Dijon mustard.

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Next, some olive oil.

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We add the oil drop by drop by drop,

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so it starts to get thicker.

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Lobster was quite a delicacy in those days.

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They had potted lobster, curried lobster, grilled lobster,

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and lobster salad.

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So it was pretty versatile.

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Oh, it's really stiffening up now. It really is.

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I would have thought this was given to the under maids to do.

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And imagine, they would have done vast quantities of this.

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That poor little under maid.

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Right, that's finished, so I'm now going to put it on ice.

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Perfect. I'll be tackling the lobster a little later.

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CHEERING

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Having entered the courtyard,

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the 39-year-old Victoria alighted from her carriage with Albert

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to meet the hosts for her brief visit.

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Victoria's diary tells us,

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"Lord Warwick met us at the door,

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but Lady Warwick, a pretty, graceful person, but in delicate health,

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having to be wheeled about in a chair, received us at the top of the stairs."

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In fact, also waiting at the door,

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according to newspaper reports,

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were the couple's three children,

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the eldest of whom was five at the time of the visit,

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and it clearly had an effect.

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Because later, when he became the 5th Earl, he records in his memoirs,

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"I know that I had to present a bouquet to the Queen,

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and that she kissed me and my brother Alwyn."

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"Doubtless, Alwyn and I, duly honoured,

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but my baby brother in arms, Louis,

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whom Her Majesty tried to kiss,

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resented the attention bitterly

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and screamed, struggled, and finally, I regret to say, blew bubbles."

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It is not recorded if Her Majesty was amused.

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BABY CHUCKLES

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Below stairs, preparations for lunch would have been well underway,

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and with the mayonnaise finished, it's time to tackle the lobster.

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Here we have our lovely, native lobster.

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They're absolutely delicious.

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Now, I'm going to take the claws off first, these big claws,

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and I'm going to remove the rest of the claws.

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There.

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Right, so, first of all,

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we need to take the meat from the claws.

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There we go, so it all comes out in one.

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There we go.

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Now I'm going to do the other claw, which is the bigger claw,

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which is actually the claw that holds onto the prawn if they're eating prawns,

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and the other one is the scissors.

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This is actually a right-handed lobster.

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Lobster needs to be cooked alive,

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and Warwick is a long way from the sea,

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so the creatures were shipped live from the coast in tanks,

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making it an expensive and high-status food,

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much like today.

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So you take the intestine from here,

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which is the little bag,

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and take the tail out.

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That's the hard work done.

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The next step will be to put it all together.

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Before lunch, the royal party was shown into the Great Hall,

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where objects from across the centuries were on display.

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Perhaps the most Victorian of objects

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that Victoria and Albert would have seen here at Warwick Castle, is this,

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the Kenilworth Buff-ay or Buffet, depending on how you pronounce it.

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It's carved from an oak tree felled at nearby Kenilworth,

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and the carving depicts an earlier chivalrous age,

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a reminder of Britain's medieval past.

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To some eyes,

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this is an absolute tour de force of the oak carver's skill.

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To others, it is a monstrous, out-sized sideboard.

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Either way, Victoria would certainly have admired it.

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It was given to the 4th Earl of Warwick as a wedding present.

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I wonder if he liked it.

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He couldn't exactly take it back to the shop and exchange it, could he?

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One of the extraordinary features of this sideboard

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is these pillar supports,

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which are carved in the form of a bear,

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as in bear-baiting, chained to a tree,

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which is an emblem of the town of Warwick.

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But what's strange about them is that they've been made so they can revolve

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like that.

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Wild.

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As the Queen and Albert, her own knight in shining armour,

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continued their whirlwind tour of the castle,

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they must have relished the cool interiors

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on what was, according to Victoria's diary, "a very hot day".

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Victoria was dressed appropriately in a white muslin dress.

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Yes, she really did once wear colours other than black.

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When it came to creating a luncheon worthy of Her Majesty,

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it wasn't just the food that had to stand out on the table.

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Decoration was just as important.

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I'm off to the conservatory

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to meet Jane Edmonds, a period floristry expert.

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Victorians loved flowers and had them all around,

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on their person they wore them, in their hair and in their clothes.

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They particularly liked in the house, plants with the new variegated foliage,

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and the more contrasts the better.

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-Oh, really? Quite garish?

-Yes, it isn't to our tastes now.

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The same with the flowers in the vase, the fern, and the limey green with the dark red.

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That was a very popular colour scheme.

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-Doesn't seem to be subtle, does it?

-No, it's not.

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This picture from the Illustrated London News Report

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shows the Queen seated for lunch at the castle.

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If you look closely, you can see a flower arrangement on the table,

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known as an apern.

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And we've got a copy here of that table centre,

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and we're going to make it.

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We know the curtains and chairs in the dining room where Victoria ate

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were in crimson velvet,

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so we've chosen rich, crimson roses

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that would have co-ordinated with the decor.

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And in true Victorian style, we've added some yellow roses

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to give some real contrast.

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They used wire and twigs, packed matchsticks or twigs,

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and then they supported them

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to place them deep into that construction here.

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When Victoria came, they'd have picked all the flowers here.

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-They didn't buy any?

-They wouldn't have bought them. They may have had gardens.

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Queen Victoria herself provided flowers for her homes

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from a big garden, and they were sent overnight.

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Interestingly, the head gardener would have been responsible for growing the best-quality flowers,

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and he would have also made the actual flower arrangements.

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The apern's height allowed the diners to enjoy conversation with the person opposite

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without encroaching on the view.

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It's very pretty, isn't it?

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Flower arranging was very popular in Victoria's day.

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The middle classes were inspired

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by pictures of grand tables in country houses.

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The prettiest flowers were placed in the eye line of the most honoured guest,

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in this case, of course, Queen Victoria.

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There were many magazines of the time

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telling people how to make their flower arrangements,

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recommending not too many types of flowers

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and not too many flowers.

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Fantastic!

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Makes a bit of a change from cooking.

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-Well, Jane, I think we're nearly there.

-Yes.

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And I think all I have to do now is place it on the Queen's table.

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-Yes, indeed.

-Fantastic. Looks wonderful.

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The last-minute invitation to Warwick for the Leigh family,

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who Victoria had been staying with at nearby Stoneleigh Abbey,

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caused some chaos,

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as Lady Georgina Leigh explains in her marvellous journal.

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She says she arrived just in time for lunch

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and was hurried into the dining room with her companion Lady Gwendolen.

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In her diary she commented, "The Queen was sitting on a kind of throne

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and was talking to Lady Warwick,

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who, being an invalid, was in a Bath chair."

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But as Georgina and Gwendolen circled the table looking for somewhere to sit,

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it became apparent that, shock horror, not enough places had been set for lunch!

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An unwelcome game of Victorian musical chairs ensued,

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as Georgina explains.

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"Lady Gwendolen and myself found only one place."

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"Of course, we were both preparing to back out

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when the Queen, who had an observant eye,

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exclaimed, 'Poor girls, they will neither of them get any luncheon.'"

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"This remark had the effect of sending Lady Gwendolen, who was nearest the door, quickly out of it,

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and I had to remain."

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Hm. I wonder if poor old Lady Gwen ever got any grub.

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After lunch, Victoria was back on the tourist trail.

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First up, the state rooms,

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which she records in her journal.

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"We passed through several fine rooms

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with beautiful furniture and splendid Van Dykes."

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The rich and sumptuous style of the rooms must have impressed Victoria.

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The Illustrated London News described how "She must have found many features of special interest,

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and much for contemplation, as well as observation."

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A century and a half before Victoria's visit,

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another queen was due to put in a similar royal appearance.

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In 1704 Queen Anne was due to visit Warwick Castle,

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and her own bed was sent from Windsor, along with her travel chest,

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ahead of her arrival.

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But she never turned up.

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Queen Anne's visit was cancelled.

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But the bed and the chest remained here until 1773,

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when King George III made them a permanent gift to the Earl of Warwick.

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It is indeed a very fine bed,

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as are all the tapestries which contain this room.

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Look at the detail, and quite how bright these colours are.

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That's because, it's said,

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that the weavers employed a man to drink as much beer as he possibly could

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in order that he would produce as much urine as possible

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because the weavers used the urine

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to stop colours in the dyes from running.

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Nice work if you can get it.

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Not so sure about that, Tim.

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I wonder if that was part of the tourist information for the royal guests.

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We do know that outside in the courtyard,

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a Warwickshire Yeomanry band was playing to entertain Victoria and Albert.

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And today the current band of the Royal Yeomanry is here

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to recreate the atmosphere.

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Somewhere under that beautiful plumage

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is their Director of Music Major Roy Falshaw.

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Tell me about the origins of the Yeoman movement.

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It wasn't just about music, was it? It was about the militia as well.

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Yes, the militia would protect the land for the wealthy owners

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and, of course, the landowners were the officers, generally,

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and the farmers and farm workers were, in fact, the yeomen.

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-So it was a bit of a mix of upstairs-downstairs.

-Absolutely.

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-For everybody.

-Most of the landowners would have had a small band.

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They'd be local musicians and other militias as well.

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These eventually formed into the regimental bands of the Yeomanry.

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What music did they play in Victorian times, and what do you play now?

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Well, the pieces we play today, firstly the regimental march of the Royal Yeomanry,

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and the regimental march of all Yeomanry regiments in England is The Farmer's Boy,

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and Queen Victoria would most certainly have known that one.

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Today's Yeomanry band is also made up of part-time musicians,

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but now from the Territorial Army.

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I must tell you, I love your hat.

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I think your hat is absolutely wonderful.

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-It's a Chapka.

-A Chapka.

-A Chapka.

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No-one really knows why the band ended up wearing this hat

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that was originally Polish military attire.

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Maybe they just fancied wearing it.

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While the band played on, the royal couple continued their tour

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and headed for the boudoir. Cripes!

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As the Warwickshire Standard describes,

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"The boudoir was a perfect picture, fitted up with blue and white satin."

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But it wasn't quite perfect.

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Unfortunately for the poor Warwicks,

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some dodgy seating provided a true moment of farce.

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A relative of the Earl had a contretemps with a chair in front of the Queen,

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as the 5th Earl's memoirs reveal.

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"My mother's kinswoman, old Lady Mexborough was with us,

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and the Queen, who knew that she was even older than she looked,

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said to her, very kindly, 'Please sit down.'"

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"Lady Mexborough thereupon sat down

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on one of the new and incomplete chairs..."

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THUMP

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"..and her partial disappearance was very swift and dramatic."

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"Queen Victoria's strict sense of decorum

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was not quite proof against this incident."

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Clearly, Victoria had a complete fit of the giggles.

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And Lady Georgina continues in her diary,

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"Her Majesty expressed a wish to go out of doors,

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and we all followed and explored the gardens in all directions."

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No doubt giggling hilariously wherever they went.

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Georgina records that as they passed through the gardens,

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the Queen noticed the Illustrated London News artists in the shrubbery making sketches,

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and she asked to see their work.

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Ha! The Victorian paparazzi had been caught out by the Queen herself.

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Fortunately for them, she approved.

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Could have been tricky, though.

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Back downstairs, I'm assembling my lovely lobster salad

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that Victoria and Albert were served when they visited.

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So I'm going to just take some Little Gems.

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Many lettuce varieties that were used in Victorian times are no longer popular.

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One in particular was called the Tennis Ball lettuce,

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so I'm using a Little Gem instead.

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So now I'm going to put...

0:22:000:22:03

my lovely pieces of chopped lobster tail,

0:22:040:22:07

which I'm going to bung in there.

0:22:070:22:09

I'm going to dress it with the mayonnaise. Not too much.

0:22:090:22:13

A large, rounded tablespoon.

0:22:130:22:15

And I'm going to just mix it all up.

0:22:150:22:18

Now, what will happen is,

0:22:180:22:20

the lettuce will wilt a tiny bit.

0:22:200:22:24

It's bound to.

0:22:240:22:25

We're going to place it in the bowl.

0:22:260:22:29

Now, I'm going to do this with my hands

0:22:290:22:32

because this is going to be much easier to control.

0:22:320:22:35

So don't worry about it. My hands are very clean indeed.

0:22:350:22:39

So I'm going to pop it in there.

0:22:390:22:41

You've got to make it into a dome

0:22:440:22:46

so I'm going to squeeze it together.

0:22:460:22:49

The next stage is to mask the salad.

0:22:500:22:53

"Masking" is a Victorian term, meaning "cover".

0:22:530:22:56

I have to mask the entire thing.

0:22:560:22:59

The reason for masking is so that the garnishes stick to the dish.

0:22:590:23:04

Just like glue.

0:23:040:23:06

The Victorians were mad about their garnishes.

0:23:080:23:11

And to garnish, I'm using hard-boiled eggs,

0:23:110:23:15

anchovy,

0:23:160:23:18

beetroot,

0:23:180:23:20

gherkin, green olives,

0:23:200:23:23

and garnish with a little fresh dill to make it really pretty.

0:23:230:23:27

And I'm going to use these little antennaes

0:23:270:23:31

just from the lobster,

0:23:310:23:32

just to give it that lobster feel,

0:23:320:23:34

rather dramatic and hopefully "wow" look about it.

0:23:340:23:38

I think Tim is going to love this,

0:23:380:23:41

and it's what Victoria ate as well.

0:23:410:23:44

Albert, somewhat tiring of the official tour, went off on his own.

0:23:520:23:57

When Victoria asked where he was,

0:23:570:23:59

she was told he'd headed to Guy's Tower, and who can blame him?

0:23:590:24:05

Up here on the battlements,

0:24:120:24:15

he must have got a real sense of this fantastic castle.

0:24:150:24:19

Ha ha! Typical bloke, hey?

0:24:260:24:29

What is it that from early childhood about castle ramparts

0:24:290:24:33

particularly excites the male of the species?

0:24:330:24:37

I don't know.

0:24:370:24:39

Where's my arrows?

0:24:390:24:41

In every sense during these royal visits,

0:24:460:24:48

Victoria and Albert were taking first-hand history lessons.

0:24:480:24:52

It was through such visits that Victoria came to piece together

0:24:520:24:56

a continuous story of the country she ruled.

0:24:560:24:59

But stately home tourism was a popular pastime

0:25:010:25:04

and not just confined to royalty.

0:25:040:25:07

Such was the popularity with the common people

0:25:070:25:10

that the housekeeper here at Warwick, one Maria Hume,

0:25:100:25:14

earned the amazing sum of £30,000 in today's money,

0:25:140:25:18

in tips from the public, for simply showing them round the castle.

0:25:180:25:23

No wonder she's smiling.

0:25:230:25:25

Let's hope I can make Tim smile,

0:25:250:25:27

by showing him just what I've been up to.

0:25:270:25:30

We're in the very dining room the Queen ate in,

0:25:300:25:33

feasting on dishes including the lobster salad.

0:25:330:25:36

And the table's adorned with a fabulous flower arrangement

0:25:360:25:39

that would also have greeted Her Majesty.

0:25:390:25:42

This is Mayonnaise de homard, which is just lobster with mayonnaise.

0:25:420:25:46

-God.

-A very simple dish, but absolutely delicious.

0:25:460:25:51

This was one of the many dishes that she would have had for her lunch

0:25:510:25:55

on her very brief visit.

0:25:550:25:57

But this is what gives me goose bumps, you see,

0:25:570:26:00

cos we're in the dining room,

0:26:000:26:02

and having the dish that she actually had for lunch,

0:26:020:26:05

and it was prepared by your fair hand.

0:26:050:26:07

It gave me great pleasure to do something from start to finish.

0:26:070:26:11

-What are these red, squiffery things on top?

-The antennae of the lobster.

0:26:110:26:15

-I'm going to just pop this on your plate.

-Let me just put it there.

0:26:150:26:19

Yes, it's quite tricky to serve.

0:26:190:26:21

It's what my mother used to call "moist".

0:26:210:26:24

It certainly is.

0:26:240:26:25

Right, OK, well.

0:26:250:26:27

Well, you've done a lovely job demolishing that.

0:26:270:26:30

I certainly have. That was difficult to serve.

0:26:300:26:33

-So, do try it.

-Thank you very much. How lovely.

0:26:330:26:36

So let's go for it.

0:26:360:26:38

-Mm.

-Oh gosh!

0:26:400:26:42

That is delicious.

0:26:420:26:44

Darling, you have done well here.

0:26:440:26:46

That is lovely, isn't it?

0:26:460:26:47

It's no wonder you are who you are. You're just a genius.

0:26:470:26:51

-Mm.

-Mm.

0:26:510:26:54

It's an incredibly simple dish to prepare.

0:26:540:26:57

Because after all, they had to have simple dishes

0:26:570:27:00

amongst all the complicated dishes, but lobster was a great delicacy.

0:27:000:27:03

-Well, it's absolutely delicious.

-Absolutely.

0:27:030:27:06

Before the royal couple left,

0:27:100:27:12

the Queen just about had time to do the obligatory tree-planting

0:27:120:27:16

in the grounds of the castle,

0:27:160:27:18

as this illustration from the Illustrated London News shows,

0:27:180:27:22

before hurrying off to catch the train back to London.

0:27:220:27:26

At Warwick railway station, they bid farewell to Lord and Lady Warwick

0:27:270:27:31

and the Leigh family with whom they had been staying at nearby Stoneleigh Abbey.

0:27:310:27:35

She thanked them for an enjoyable visit.

0:27:350:27:39

Lady Georgina Leigh wrote in her diary,

0:27:410:27:44

"So ends my account, and I trust all true-hearted Warwickshire folk

0:27:440:27:50

will respond to the sentiment

0:27:500:27:52

that their county has become dearer to them

0:27:520:27:54

now its soil has been trodden,

0:27:540:27:57

its beauties visited, its scenery admired,

0:27:570:28:00

by the beloved sovereign Victoria."

0:28:000:28:03

"The great, the good, the model woman."

0:28:030:28:07

Join us next time on Royal Upstairs Downstairs,

0:28:130:28:16

when Victoria and Albert exchange authentic medieval

0:28:160:28:20

for a newly-built castle, Penrhyn in North Wales,

0:28:200:28:23

complete with all mod cons.

0:28:230:28:26

A flushing loo!

0:28:260:28:28

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:28:490:28:52

Email [email protected]

0:28:520:28:55

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