Life in Sandringham has always revolved around horses, partridge and pheasant shooting and fishing rods. In these winter days, the King Charles He is moved by so many memories; those of their ancestors, who loved “the … big house” since the Queen Victoria he bought it in 1862; and his own Christmas memories. He will remember that on Christmas Eve, he “ran at full gallop through these rooms” to see the presents laid out on a long table, next to a tree full of surprises. From a very young age, “he felt a strong attachment to the land of the places he loved most: Balmoral, in Scotland, and Sandringham, in Norfolk,” he admitted to his biographer. Jonathan Dimbleby. His ancestors hunted here, like his grandfather George VIwho walked around this immense estate with his dogs and a light rifle until the day he died. But we must be happy because when the horses, the guns and the white frost of the morning have retreated, the king will be able to join the shooting group, with a good group of aristocrats, as in his youth.
To warm up, we travel to Jerez de la Frontera where the sherry that the royal family and their guests have drunk over the centuries is grown, and to Sandrigham since the late 19th century. Cream sherry, which at this time was beginning to be made John Harvey in Bristol, it was a sweet wine to the taste of Queen Victoria, the first English queen to set foot in Spain. As ABC published on April 17, 1927, at one of these wineries, the Queen consort Marywife of George Vwith his son Edwardwho, years later, abdicated so that he could marry Wallis Simpson. We are surrounded by the aroma of large oak barrels impregnated with wine, which in Jerez they call boots, on which the sister of Charles III, the Princess Annein 1972, and ten years later Duke of Edinburgh.
King Charles forgets the sherry
In front of the coat of arms of Elizabeth IIwhich hangs on one of the walls, painted with lime to regulate humidity, we were told during the visit to the Fundador that “King Carlos did not want to renew the contract his mother had with the winery because he does not drink sherry wine. Until the death of Queen Elizabeth we were the only official suppliers to the British Royal Household and bottles left here every year for Buckingham Palace. “We wanted to keep a few special bottles of Harveys that were sent for different ceremonies.”
The late Queen Elizabeth II toasting at a state dinner in 2015
The academic from the Royal Academy of San Dionisio de Jerez, José Luis Jiménez Garciais of the same opinion: “It is true that the new king does not like sherry like his mother. I don’t think she drinks as much as her and her grandmother and sherry is not her drink of choice. It does not appear that he will renew the royal mandate that Elizabeth II granted him in 1969″, which accredited this winery as an official supplier. However, sherry is part of the recent history of the family, since during the wedding banquet of the Prince William And Kate Middletondessert included a sherry trifle, a sponge cake soaked in sherry. Even though Carlos III loves Scotch whiskey and Martini, there is still time to resume this family tradition.
A bottle of sherry at Christmas
José Luis Garcia Ruizwho was president of the Regulatory Council of the Designation of Origin “Jerez-Xeres-Sherry” from 1997 to 2003, tells ABC that “the cream which was consumed at the Court of England is a sweet wine and was considered a woman’s wine; with a high alcohol content but, unlike gin, it was not frowned upon for drinking. It became so popular that “during the 20th century, the United Kingdom was the main consumer of sherry”. Manuel Ceballos Morenotells us enthusiastically that “the monarchy was in love with our wine, she drank it as an aperitif or with dessert in small Bohemian glass glasses, and at Christmas she drank the cream as if it were water”.
“I’ve never seen her even a little drunk,” Camila’s son Tom Parker Bowles said in response to the rumors.
King Charles, at the 2020 Australian Bushfire Relief and Recovery Dinner
Camila, “not even a little tipsy”
According to the Institute of Alcohol Studies in London, almost four in five British women currently consume an average of nine drinks a week. the son of Camille and food critic Tom Parker-Bowles came forward to rumors: “Although my mother is famous for drinking gin, she has never had a glass of gin in her life and she doesn’t smoke”; “She barely drinks” and “I’ve never seen her even a little drunk”; as he assured ‘The Times’ while promoting his book ‘Cooking and the Crown’ last year. Neither him nor his sister Laura They will see what their mother drinks over the holidays as, unlike last year, they will not be visiting Sandringham for Christmas.
Of course Camila will drink red wine, a more sophisticated drink than gin and which she loves: “It’s the only thing I drink, it’s very good for your health! Just what the doctor ordered! (…) I promise you, it’s my favorite drink”; he commented last May to a veteran during a reception at Windsor Castle. Wine is “an important part of our lives”, as his sister said Annabel Elliott. “Unlike most English families, from a young age we drank wine with food”; although Annabel pointed out that “the Queen drinks moderately and King Charles even more; “he prefers a Martini before dinner”.
Queen Camilla with a glass of red wine at a dinner last November
Since the monarch became the guardian of the royal cellars, the one who decides which wine is purchased at the House is not only her wine committee, but most likely Camila. At 78 years old, she has a lot of experience in this field since, as she herself says, “my father worked in the wine trade and I grew up drinking wine“. If you have any questions you can ask WineGB, the national wine industry association of England and Wales of which she is President.
Sandringham at Christmas
And we fly with our imagination to Sandringham for Christmas, where the Windsors are again. In the blink of an eye it will be December 25th above the cold meadows and moors of England. Carlos and what remains of his family attended the church service in the small medieval church, where there may have been a children’s choir singing traditional Christmas carols. After greeting the neighbors and smiling for the cameras, they returned to the main house, where they had drinks, lunch and some desserts. Someone like Princess Anne or the Prince of Wales will have stood, raising a glass of transparent, fragile crystal, which was once the color of sherry sunshine and sweet as honey, to begin the Loyal Toast; a toast of loyalty to the king, who will be happy and hopeful to receive the “blessed” news of his improvement.
During dinner, the Loyal Toast is recited; a toast of loyalty to the king, who will be happy and hopeful of his improvement
In a flash three o’clock in the afternoon approaches the clock at Sandringham and the television will be on as there is curiosity to know the words the monarch has chosen for his third Christmas message; Hundreds of thousands of citizens, of all races, cultures and religions, are just as attentive. After hearing your own words, you will have been able to open the window a little to smell the fresh air. And now that you have received the best Christmas present, we would like to see him relaxedsitting in his reading chair with his cushion on his back and a Shakespeare book in his hands. If that were the case, we would also like it to be the play Henry IV and reach the page where Falstaff’s soliloquy is printed. Thus His Majesty will remember that sherry invigorates “ingenuity”, “warms the blood” and makes “this little kingdom, man” capable of accomplishing “any feat of valor”; and this value comes from sherry.
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