Ella Scott
US President Donald Trump had a major rule to follow involving the First Lady amid preparations for the White House state dinner with King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Despite an attempted shooting disrupting the White House Association Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel, the British monarchy elected to continue with their state visit to the United States.
After touching down in Washington, Charles, 77, and Camilla, 78, attended afternoon tea at the British Embassy in Washington, where four sandwich flavours were served, including roast beef and horseradish.
The pair were later treated to a four-course state dinner at the White House, with three wines from American vintners being chosen to complement.
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56-year-old Melania Trump’s Office revealed that she’d curated the menu ahead of time - and according to previously published reports, it wasn’t actually her choice to get involved.
According to Mashed, there are usually around six full-time members of staff working in the White House kitchen, including acting Executive Chef Tommy Kurpradit and pastry expert, Susan Morrison.
All members of the team have a series of strict rules to follow, including being available around the clock, abiding by security measures, and being willing to take on challenges, such as constructing the annual gingerbread house and dyeing eggs for the annual White House Egg Roll.
All kitchen personnel are managed by the First Spouse, who has the ability to hire and fire - even if they don’t really want to be involved.
Right now, Melania holds all the power, which is why the state dinner menu reveal came from her office, rather than her husband’s.
Upon sitting down with around 100 other guests, Charles and Camilla were served a velouté - one of the five ‘mother sauces’ in French cuisine - featuring delicate garden herbs, as per The Office of the First Lady.
The dish was served with a hearts of palm salad finished with toasted shallots and micro mint.
A spring herb ravioli, stuffed with creamy ricotta and earthy morels followed, with a Dover sole meunière bathed in a nutty brown butter being hailed as the star of the show.
The latter was served with potatoes pavé, tender spring ramps, snow peas and a drizzle of parsley oil.
White House chefs were directed by Melania to create a chocolate gâteau with smooth vanilla bean crémeux custard in the shape of a beehive for dessert.
It was set with almond joconde and served with honey collected from the on-site beehives and crème fraîche.
Wine came from the Willamette Valley, the Western Connecticut Highlands and the Carneros region of the Napa Valley.
As per the Office’s notice, the bottles were selected to honour the ‘shared heritage and enduring friendship’ between Britain and the United States.
Ahead of the state dinner menu reveal, a former personal royal chef revealed that the King isn’t a big fan of a particular sweet treat.
Speaking to Fox Digital, Darren McGrady, who was a personal chef to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Princess of Wales, and her sons, William, Prince of Wales, and Harry, Duke of Sussex, claimed the royal didn’t really like chocolate.
"America has some incredible produce. But having said that, the palace would have been in touch, saying, ‘King Charles is not a great lover of chocolate, but the queen loves chocolate.’ Anything with chocolate on the menu, Camilla will love,” he claimed.