How Quickly Royalty Fades: Now We Contemplate Napoleon

Sunday 17th June 2012

Something miraculous happened today re: frockage. I was at Topman. I must tell you.

But how quickly Royalty fades. Did the Jubilee ever happen? Majesty is now appearing on sub-standard balconies in Nottingham, I see.

I quite forgot to reveal that Princess Alexandra attended the street party on the Jubilee Monday in Giles Ullerston and Frankie-Doreen May’s street. I was there too. Frankie-Doreen is actually a Republican. She felt so sorry for Prin Alex, having to ask the band if they’d been a band long. Princess also experienced several ‘opportunities to tidy’ in the better houses in the street, or whose possessors had ambition for Royalty in their toilet.

‘Opportunities to tidy’ was the phrase used on the schedule for the visit issued by the Street Party Committee who have also erected already a plaque commemorating the occasion.

Frankie-Doreen’s daughter, Glory, thought the Princess’s fabric was Stay-Press. I thought it a magical mauve and her beauty and charm great. Her back hair has never quite worked (you remember at Princess Anne’s hairdresser’s memorial meeting, where she was present, her back hair was controversial) but being totally Royal as she is (both parents fully royal), but she rises completely above it.

Now what about Napoleon? Was he Poor Little Rich Gay? Surely his camping was very high. I’ve heard he had a chef to hand on the battlefield who on the night before the battle of Marengo conjured up the first ever Chicken Marengo.

In Paris last weekend, I visited Napoleon’s tomb with Harry Rollo as well as the museum of the Invalides next door. Oddly, on Thursday, I attended a  Beating the Retreat with the Multis at Horseguards Parade.

I’ve never had a military leaning before. Do you know, Poor Little Rich Gays have got more in common with the military than you might think. There’s a certain freedom – just you wait and see.

Now I must mention for the last time, my Jubilee luncheon on Jubilee final day: when sudden Jubilation struck: despite the horseradish being woody, the beef possibly under-done, the broadbeans mealy, the French beans not the best and as for the chicken with tarragon cream sauce… well, Val said (yes, he came! his first big engagement since hip replacement after hip snap from fall while sauced in September): ‘I spent the entire late 70s trying to get that sauce to thicken.’

It’s an egg-bound sauce, you see. Has to be stirred for hours over low heat, must never boil. Robert Nevil did it for an important summer luncheon in about 1983 and suffered terribly from failure to thicken.

I did too, for Jubilee 2012.

But, finally, it was all all right.  It wasn’t too salty either, as feared.

I couldn’t believe my lack of disappointment with  the food. Such a breakthrough. At last, after almost forty years, I managed to give a luncheon and was not racked.

I overheard Val explaining to Prince Dmitri Hersov the history of the lapel in menswear.

Princess Alexandra at the Street Party in Giles Ullerston and Frankie-Doreen May's Street: Indescribable Mauve

Princess Alexandra at the Street Party in Giles Ullerston and Frankie-Doreen May's Street: Indescribable Mauve

Princess Alexandra at the Street Party in Giles Ullerston and Frankie-Doreen May's Street: Such Poise and Beauty: A Royalty at the Height of her Powers

Princess Alexandra at the Street Party in Giles Ullerston and Frankie-Doreen May's Street: Such Poise and Beauty: A Royalty at the Height of her Powers

Napoleon's Camping Arrangements Mocked Up In Invalides Museum, Paris

Napoleon's Camping Arrangements Mocked Up In Invalides Museum, Paris

Napoleon's Tomb: Suitable for Any Poor Little Rich Gay

Napoleon's Tomb: Suitable for Any Poor Little Rich Gay

Napoleonic General with His Kitchen (well, son actually, but I ask you)

Napoleonic General with His Kitchen (well, son actually, but I ask you)

Soldiers' Frockage Seen at Invalides Museum, Paris

Soldiers' Frockage Seen at Invalides Museum, Paris

Display of Models on Top Floor of Invalides Museum, Paris. This is Paté Castle. Models Were Made in C17th for Military Purposes

Display of Models on Top Floor of Invalides Museum, Paris. This is Paté Castle. Models Were Made in C17th for Military Purposes

The Louvre: So Intensely Intimate: Just Imagine Nanny Calling the Children in for Tea from the Top Floor

The Louvre: So Intensely Intimate: Just Imagine Nanny Calling the Children in for Tea from the Top Floor

Posted Sunday, June 17, 2012 under Adrian Edge day by day.

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