Prince William snubbed by Keir Starmer as PM sits next to his schoolboy crush | Royal | News
The glittering white-tie State Banquet took place in Windsor this evening, but Prince William will no doubt be disappointed that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was seated next to him and not Claudia Schiffer.
Speaking in the documentary ‘Diana, Our Mother’ in 2017, the future king said that one day when he came home from school, he encountered three supermodels waiting to meet him: Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington.
Prince William said of the encounter: “I was probably a 12 or 13-year-old kid with posters of them on his wall and I turned bright red and didn’t quite know what to say and just sort of clumsily fell down the stairs as I walked out.”
Members of the Royal Family were joined tonight by a host of famous faces, including German model Claudia Schiffer, Hakim Motsi Mabuse, film composer Hans Zimmer and Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler.
German football player Thomas Hitzlsperger, who spent the early part of his career playing for Prince William’s team Aston Villa, is also invited.
Guests dined on an exquisite menu prepared by the royal chefs, written in French, and served on historic, priceless dinnerware.
Tonight’s meal started with an open pie of crayfish, quail eggs and warm smoked trout with shellfish sauce, followed by the supreme of puff pastry-wrapped Windsor partridge with confit kale and port sauce. The main course was served with crushed carrots, swede and a variety of winter vegetables.
To finish, guests enjoyed baked Alaska with blackberry, vanilla and raspberry ice creams, as well as coffee and petit fours.
The meals were washed down with four specially selected wines, and after dinner, guests were treated to a black forest cake themed cocktail.
The Duchess of Edinburgh’s String Orchestra played a variety of music, including Gladiator and Pirates of the Caribbean, in a nod to the German guests, including music by one of the guests, Mr Zimmer. Music by J. Strausse, WA Mozart and GF Handel.
The evening marks the first state banquet in modern history to feature a Christmas tree at the foot of the table, a sign of German tradition.
Therefore, the mahogany table had to be shortened by two meters to accommodate the six-metre (19.6 ft) Nordmann fir, seating 152 guests instead of the usual 160.
