Tonight, King Charles and Queen Camilla dined at Highgrove—at an event curated by actor Stanley Tucci. The meal celebrates the King and Queen’s upcoming tour of Italy, as well as slow food and slow fashion.
“The menu for the evening has been created by world-renowned Chef, Francesco Mazzei and inspired by Italian-American actor Stanley Tucci,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “Created using entirely British ingredients blended with Italian culinary traditions and local flavours, the menu aims to fully embody the principles of Slow Food.”
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Helen Mirren was also in attendance at the dinner.
The dinner has been in the works for nearly two years, according to Tucci’s recently released memoir.
What I Ate in One Year: (and related thoughts)
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Credit: courtesy photo
In his memoir, What I Ate in One Year, Tucci details his year of eating in 2023—which included filming the Oscar-nominated film Conclave in Italy. A few passages, however, discuss this dinner for King Charles.
The first mention is on March 23, 2023: “I had a lunch meeting at the Italian embassy with the ambassador to the UK, Inigo Lambertini, and Chef Francesco Mazzei,” Tucci writes. “I had met the ambassador before, and I have known the talented Francesco for more than ten years. Felicity and I had one of our first dates at a restaurant of his and we eventually held our wedding reception dinner there a couple of years later. Ambassador Lambertini had invited us to discuss throwing a lunch or dinner for the king and queen, something that is often done by ambassadors when a new monarch is crowned.”
He continues, “When the ambassador had extended the invite to King Charles, HRH told him that he would indeed come, ‘but only if Stanley Tucci is invited as well.’ What can I say, dear reader. Such is my lot in life. Of course, I was extremely flattered, but I soon got over myself (almost) and set to the task of figuring out how we might orchestrate the event. Dishes, venues, seasons were discussed, and in the end, we decided to serve four courses, alternating between Italian and British recipes that complemented one another, and hoped that the king and queen would enjoy the positive bicultural sentiment as well as the food itself.”
The dinner is mentioned again in the entry for June 5. “Had a Zoom meeting with Francesco Mazzei and Ambassador Lambertini to continue discussing the royal feast for my soon-to-be new best friend King Charles that we’ll be throwing at some point,” Tucci writes. “I said that I thought our original idea of alternating British and Italian dishes seemed a bit contrived and would be a recipe for overfeeding. Instead, I suggested that we create a proper Italian menu using as many British ingredients as possible, which is something Francesco has tried to do over the last few years in his restaurants.”
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A preview of the space before the dinner.
He then goes on to detail a possible menu, and how to source ingredients. “If the dinner indeed happens, I will tell all,” he writes, before a footnote adds, “The king canceled dinner. That’s okay. There are many monarchs in the sea.”
However, years later, the dinner that Tucci envisioned with Chef Francesco Mazzei and Italy’s Ambassador to the UK, Inigo Lambertini, finally took place.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.