Tea at Trianon: The Royal Cider

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Royal Cider

At Sandringham. To quote:

The cider, which is believed to be the first commercially home-grown alcohol from the Queen’s estates, was initially produced as a trial batch of 350 bottles in 2010, but proved so popular, selling out within weeks, that production was tripled to 1,000 bottles last year. The drink, which is 6 per cent alcohol, costs £3.99 per bottle and can be bought only from the royal estate, which is privately owned by the Queen.

The Duke of Edinburgh, 91, is known to be very hands-on in the development of Sandringham’s farm and samples its products, as does the Queen.

The Duke of Cambridge, who uses the estate for shooting parties, has frequently proclaimed his preference for cider and had an apple named after him as a 21st birthday present. “Until recently, cider was seen as an old traditionalist’s drink but Prince William has turned that image upside down,” a Waitrose spokesman said when it credited the future king with sending cider sales soaring. (Read entire article.)

Via Nobility. Share