luni, 30 ianuarie 2012
I wish to be Queen 's guest
Each couple arrives between six and seven o’clock, to be greeted by an equerry and lady-in-waiting and escorted to their suite in the Lancaster, York, or King Edward III tower. The customary accommodation includes two large bedrooms and bathrooms, a ladies’ dressing room and commodious sitting room furnished with desks equipped with writing paper and pens, tables laden with mineral water, decanters of whisky, sherry, and gin, cornucopias of fruit, bowls of peppermint candies, jars of biscuits, and vases of fresh flowers.
... She assigns a footman and housemaid to serve as each guest’s valet or ladies’ maid Their job is to unpack the suitcases, fold underwear in gauzy organza bags, line up cosmetics and perfume bottles in perfect order, whisk away clothing for washing and ironing (“better than any dry cleaner in London,” said the wife of a Commonwealth diplomat), draw the bath at the guest’s requested temperature, drape a large a towel over a nearby chair, lay out clothes, and before departure time repack everything with tissue paper.
Sally Bedell Smith "Elizabeth the Queen; The Life of a Modern Monarch ".
