When a self-proclaimed California foodie marries into the British royal family, there’s at least one certainty: The traditional British wedding menu will get a serious upgrade.
Before Meghan Markle was engaged to Prince Harry, she ran a lifestyle blog called The Tig, and much of the site was filled with Meghan’s explorations in the kitchen, ranging from her Aegean-inspired kale salad to beet pasta with brown butter and arugula pesto along with a carrot pesto pasta salad that looked delectable.
Unlike at American weddings, on Saturday there will be a wedding breakfast served after the ceremony, basically a light lunch. And later Saturday night, there will be a smaller, more intimate sit-down dinner. (After that is when we’re hoping for taco trucks.)
A former royal chef, Darren McGrady, shared the menu of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding menu in 1947.
For a country still rationing at the time, the menu was downright luxurious, starting with filet de sole Mountbatten, Philip’s family name, and finishing off with a Bombe Glacee Princesse Elizabeth.
The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their platinum wedding anniversary next week. I have the original recipes to recreate the menu #PlatinumWedding #History pic.twitter.com/scgAshVJvP
— The Royal Chef (@DarrenMcGrady) November 15, 2017
The menu also featured, a Perdreau en casserole avec haricots verts et pommes noisette (braised partridge) and extremely rare out-of-season strawberries.
In 1981, Prince Charles and Diana also opted for dishes named after members of the monarchy with a Suprême de Volaille Princesse de Galles, a Princess of Wales chicken which was chicken breasts stuffed with fine lamb mousse. Their meal finished off with British strawberries and cream and a 9-foot high wedding cake.
At his second wedding, Prince Charles and his now-wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, opted for more of a drinks and canapés affair.
In 2011, Prince William and Kate went for a modern gastro-pub take, highlighting British ingredients. They started with marinated South Uist salmon, Lyme Bay crab and wild Hebridean langostines with a fresh herb salad, before moving onto a spring lamb with English asparagus, Jersey Royal potatoes and they finished off with a trio of sweet treats.
But Prince Harry and Meghan, may break the mold all together.
"I think there will be a really nice spring salad to start, they could actually go with a venison because in Windsor Great Park there are a lot of deer," Emily Few Brown, who runs the hip London wedding caterer, Spook Cooking, told ABC News.
"Dessert-wise, probably something chocolate-y or a lemon tarte," she added.
Prince Harry and Meghan have already ditched the traditional tiered British fruit cake, according to Kensington Palace, opting instead for a lemon-elderflower cake by California pastry chef, Claire Ptak. A far cry from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's reportedly 300 pound fruit cake served at their wedding in 1840.
A quick Google search now returns dozens of recipes for lemon-elderflower cakes. (We thought this one looked scrumptious.)
?? 200 Amalfi lemons
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 18, 2018
?? 500 organic eggs from Suffolk
?? 20kgs of butter
?? 20kgs of flour
?? 20kgs of sugar
?? 10 bottles of Sandringham Elderflower Cordial
The baking of the #RoyalWedding cake is under way! pic.twitter.com/b3jhwtOwOP
But Meghan won’t be going out on a limb, finding out awkwardly whether the Queen approves of late night sliders. Rest assured, the monarch will still have her say.
“The Queen will have a big say in those menus,” ABC News royal contributor, Omid Scobie, told ABC News. “And those menus will have traditional ingredients, but will also include some of the more modern ingredients we know Harry and Meghan like."
He added: "It will be a real blend of all those flavors."
We’re hungry just thinking about it. No doubt the new member of the royal family will start spicing up tradition — one slice of lemon-elderflower cake, at at a time.
