If you watched the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympics, you know that France knows how to party. In fact, one of the biggest events the country shelled out money for last year was a state dinner for King Charles III of Great Britain. With a final total of almost 475 thousand euros (US$515 thousand in US dollars), according to the French agency audit OfficeThe event piled up France’s national debt and budget deficit of €154 billion in 2023 and put the nation on the spot with the European Union for being financially reckless.
So what was on the menu that generated this type of bill? Delicacies and rarities in abundance. GB News Royal Correspondent Cameron Walker posted on X (formerly Twitter), a peek at the menu for the day of the event. To start, freshly caught blue lobster and crab cake were on the menu. The communications manager of a French seafood company, Clémentine Fortineau, confirmed to The Daily Express that this unique crustacean is “one in one to two million.” According to Walker, the next main course was Bresse chicken and cep (wild mushroom) gratin and a cheese spread with 30-month-old Comté cheese. If you don’t know the Bresse bird, think of it as the champagne of chickens, as it is only produced in a specific region and its characteristics are influenced by the terroir. The party ended with Pierre Hermé’s Ispahan, which is a rose macaroon complemented with lychee, raspberry and rose petal cream.
See more information: What the cameras don’t show on MasterChef
A meal fit for a king
In addition to the royal dinner, expensive wines and real champagne bottles (also expensive) were paired with the courses. Daily Mail royal editor Rebecca English posted on X (formerly Twitter), “@peterallenparis reports that wines costing more than £400 a bottle will also be on the Versailles menu tonight”, listing labels such as Grand Cru Batârd-Montrachet 2018 and Château Mouton Rothschild 2004. The French audit of the palace’s budget revealed that only drinks at dinner cost more than 42,000 euros ($45,467). Allegedly, the food that has a disturbing truth, foie graswas not served, which makes sense since King Charles banned the French delicacy in UK royal residences due to concerns about animal cruelty (and it is not included in the what does he eat in a day, any). With the state dinner being held in the opulent Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, the venue was also a big-ticket item.
Plenty of celebrities were in tow to dine with the King and French President Emmanuel Macron, including big names like Mick Jagger, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Hugh Grant and Emma Mackey. It seems at least part of this opulent show is about keeping up with the Joneses, so to speak. The Élysée Palace explained some of this extravagant spending by saying: “France maintains close diplomatic relations with a large number of countries, which organize equivalent events when they welcome the Head of State” (via Political).
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