Saturday, August 2, 2008

Dinner at The Mansion House



......by the kind permission of the Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor! Which I discovered is not the same as the Mayor, but more of an ambassador for the city selected to serve one year. The Dinner was hosted by the Worshipful Company of Marketors and we were the guest of a couple of young, up and coming, "marketeers" who work for Rick at EY. It was a "White Tie" event which meant that Rick had to wear long tails and I had to wear a long dress, it was quite a POSH affair! We enjoyed the music and the conversation, the meal was elegant and we toasted the Queen and her all her Royal Family. ( Kind of like the song...Duke , Duke, Duke of Earl!) One of the most unusual traditions was the Ceremony of the Loving Cup. The Loving Cup is a huge silver goblet filled with mulled wine which has to be held with both hands. Each guest receives the Cup and turns to his neighbor who will drink after him and bow to each other. After the drinker has taken his drink he wipes the rim of the cup with a napkin and replaces the cover. They then bow and the process is repeated. Meanwhile the person who has finished drinking stands back to back with his neighbor to "watch his back". As the Cup went around the room I just kept thinking of the germs on the rim if that goblet...and we are worried about being stabbed. I don't think any one has been stabbed in the back since Anglo-Saxon times and the assassination of King Edward but you never know and "tradition" is one of the things I really love about this country!

2 comments:

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Where did you find the candelabra hat to match your dress?
Very chic!
That Rick is looking very British these days... Lord Mayfield.

The Split Pea Cottage said...

I wonder where you learned to pse like that? I love that dress, it looks perfect on you!