RSPCA Llys Nini, the independantly funded animal centre in Swansea, has been lucky enough to be given 2 vintage royal menus to help them in their fund raising drive.
The menus, one from the Queen’s table and one from Prince Charles are both from private or family meals and not state ocassions. It is thought that this will make them practically unique and will raise much needed funds for the Centre. Both menus were given by a former worker at Buckingham Palace, and have been placed on e bay by the charity.
The Quenn’s menu is from April 1975, is edged and embossed with gold leaf and describes a meal of “Filets de sole frite sauce mayonnaise, Caneton roti a l’anglaise salade, asperges sauce hollandaise.
The other is from Prince Charle’s table, it bears the Prince of Wales crest in red and is dated June 1977, the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee anfd teh year that Charles first met Diana. Again it is from a private meal and therefore unlikely to have been seen outside the royal dining room. It bears a small brown stain, possibly coffee and someone has obviously used it to get their pen to work. Although the charity does not know who made the marks, they are fairly confident that the stains indicate that the menu was actually used on the table.
A spokesperson for RSPCA Llys Nini said ” We are absolutley delighted to have been given these 2 items. They both came from a former Royal worker and we are absolutely sure of their authenticity. We have all been wondering who actually scribbled on the one menu, we would like to think it could have been Prince Charles, but obviously we will never know.
These gifts could not have come at a better time, as we are struggling to cope with the financial implications of the post Christmas puppy dumpings. People who had puppies for Christmas are now getting fed up with them, we have had quite a few handed in over the past couple of weeks. We have also had to take in a number of older cats and dogs whose owners have unfortunately died over the winter. All this puts an extra financial burden on us, so we hope that these menus will raise a considerable amount of money for us.”
Anyone interested in seeing the menus can do so via the Llys Nini website, www.llysnini-rspca.org.uk and following the ebay link.
