Queen Victoria's Booze Filled Tipsy Cake | Royal Upstairs Downstairs | Real Royalty With Foxy Games

[Music] just what you have to do when a queen decides she's going to pop in to see you and not just any old queen victoria like a pair of obsessed victoria groupies we're pursuing her around the country to the posh pads she visited we'll be delving into her personal diaries and first-hand accounts to reveal what went on behind closed doors today here in jamanna home to benjamin's israeli british prime minister when victoria came visited just before christmas in 1877. but it was no ordinary social call oh no the queen had urgent political business in mind and as someone who spent a lifetime getting excited by antiques i'll be upstairs exploring the wonderful gifts that victoria showered on her host he would have felt completely chuffed and as a chef who's passionate about the best british food i'll be making a 19th century cake with a boozy finish in honor of victoria's favorite pm that looks wonderful and it packs a real punch for tim pretty alco pop this isn't it the year is 1877. queen victoria is a 58 year old widow and has been on the throne for a hefty 40 years this was her first ever trip to the home of benjamin israeli who was in his third year as prime minister victoria traveled from windsor to high wycombe on the royal train a journey that took just 35 minutes the queen arrived at hughenden accompanied by her youngest daughter beatrice they got out of the train at high wickham station and were transferred to a horse and carriage which ultimately swept them through this gateway up to the house benjamin israeli's country seat and this is on a much lesser scale to the grand estates that victoria was used to but the grounds were cleverly designed to hide the house from view just as well because both victoria and the prime minister required a bit of privacy you see this trip was all a bit serious because at the time there was an international crisis russia was at war with turkey putting at risk vital trade routes to india and victoria was having none of it she wanted the prime minister to declare war on russia in order to quash the threat but even with all this going on disraeli still wanted to put on a good show for the queen victoria's visit here to hughendon would have been seen by israeli as an absolute triumph because he was after all the ultimate social climber the fact that his sovereign was going to call would have driven him into a complete ecstasy even though she only came for lunch now the house may not be as imposing as some but they did try their very best to make sure that it would impress for the queen and i'm actually going to find out if they're working just as hard to impress below stairs and i'm going to find out some more about this intriguing house this visit was strictly business but in later years victoria grew incredibly fond of the man nicknamed dizzy a bond that can still be seen today as we pass into the inner entrance hall your eye is drawn by this maquette a plaster sculpture which show some of queen victoria's favorites we've got her favorite pony flora we've got her favorite collie sharp and her favorite highlander billy connolly no john brown so in this single object we have something that's very special for victoria and it's most appropriate and i think charming that it's this that she selected to present to disraeli when he resigned as prime minister in 1880 it kind of encapsulates this special relationship victoria recorded her arrival at hughenden in her diary but she actually gave very very little away she wrote he met me at the door and led me into the library which looked onto a pretty little italian garden we went out at once and beatrice and i each planted a tree how green despite appearances israeli wasn't actually that wealthy he didn't have many staff so he had to take on additional personnel to make sure the queen was properly gated for victoria was here for lunch so with food historian ivan day i'll be recreating a boozy dessert we know would have tickled the prime minister and his queen's taste buds the kitchen's no longer here so we're cooking in the converted staples well here we are at here denive and now what are we going to be doing today well i've got a remarkable object to show you it's a cake mold yeah but it's specifically to make a savoy cake which is a giant sponge cake in this extraordinary architectural form but we're going to do something with it after we've baked it we're going to turn it into a thing called a tipsy cake because we know that israeli was very fond of a tipple what i've already done is i've greased the mold drained it how interesting and while it's still warm i've dusted it with a mixture of sugar and flour now that's to stop the cake from sticking to protect the cake from the heat of the oven we wrap some paper around the mold and tie it in place now it's time to make the mixture most essential ingredient are the eggs so we've separated out 10 eggs we need another two so rosemary could you put the whites in there and the yolks in here um the other ingredients are very basic we've got sugar and flour now if you could start whipping those up and there's a wonderful victorian bloom whisk there this is amazing it's fantastic wait till you see it perform it's really really good we'll be whipping up our own cake mixture for this recipe but in victorian times they often just used a stale savoy cake so either this is done well i think we better get some into here okay that's brilliant so what we do is we want to keep the air so we just fold it in a little bit at a time i want to introduce you to this wonderful piece of equipment this is a victorian flower set so if you put about half of the flower in there well i'm going to pour it over so it doesn't sort of that's perfect no now what we do is if you turn it round you can actually sieve it into this is amazing isn't that great it's wonderful i knew you'd like that i love it let's get all of that flour in i think we've got to get that in the mold as quickly as you can would you be my guest oh you're living dangerously there you go fantastic i'll just put the spoon over here so right right for the middle yup no problems you know me not too much of the time perfect just keep pouring it rosemary we mustn't fill it right up we just take it up to what they call the three-quarter level which is about there okay okay okay great perfect that is absolutely perfect there's only one thing we've got to do with that you know eat it no we're gonna bake it first [Music] while below stairs the staff were throwing together a spot of lunch upstairs disraeli and victoria engaged in some pretty heavy issues that december day in 1877 victoria was here on a mission she was determined to stiffen israeli's political resolve and provide royal support at a time of international tension that was about to engulf asia she wrote in her diary i went back into the library where he gave me an account of yesterday's cabinet which had been very stormy and it's in this very room that the discussion took place you know her match had a history of meddling in policy issues that should have been the preserve of parliament and i have a copy of the telegramed israeli sent to victoria the day before she arrived here that recounts the stormy cabinet meeting and reveals just how involved she was you can see here it says foreign office 5 50 on december the 14th and it says cabinet to ours carnarvon salisbury and derby against but the first two will i think ascent decided on monday chancellor of the exchequer secretary for war and lord chancellor excellent and all the rest on the whole much pleased so this just proves that israeli is keeping victoria involved literally minute by minute with developments all pretty unconstitutional before we find out more about this political fuss we first need to know more about dizzy the man because by all accounts he was a bit of a rascal i've enlisted the help of historian professor jane ridley well i think there's a huge difference between a young israeli who was certainly a philanderer and a flatterer and a dandy and deeply in dead and the old israeli who is a dedicated statesman incredibly hard worked a widower but brilliantly manipulative and um very good particularly with women which is i think where we come to queen victoria and the relationship with her israeli treated her like not just a queen and not just a woman but you know he called it the fairy queen and he was extravagant in his gestures wasn't he i mean he would kiss her hand with a flourish and bow very deeply and significantly deeply which would excite her all of this is quite true and she in exchange gave him the privilege that no other um prime minister had she allowed him to sit down in her presence usually you had to stand if you're prime minister but dizzy was allowed to sit so there's a unique bond possibly partly because disraeli and victoria had both been widowed by the time of this visit and that special relationship had a major impact on victoria well he did one terribly important thing to israeli queen victoria after albert died retired into seclusion she was hardly seen she was always dressed in black and after about 10 years of this there was a great deal of criticism you know the monarchy is supposed to be a public institution and the queen was invisible and the person who really managed to sort of um charm victoria out of this was israeli he was able to sort of persuade her to appear in public to open parliament he was able to flatter and tell her she was wonderful and um so in a way the israeli saved the monarchy you could argue what he also did was to tell her much more than other prime ministers he really let her into the secrets of politics and because she was fascinated the more she knew the more powerful she was politically so he used her as a political ally yeah and you know she used him to get what she wanted i mean for example she badly wanted to be empress of india um the israelis did it for her and she in return made him lord beckensfield absolutely was a mutually reciprocal relationship as a widower lord beckersfield had to organize all the details of this royal visit himself janet hildelli who has written about israeli and his wife is showing me around the cellar to give me an insight into what went on behind the scenes downstairs so janet what can you tell me about queen victoria's visit here he would have been amazed that she would have come here they weren't old money they were new almost nouveau-ish they had no background and they lived by their wits but this is what israeli really enjoyed though he enjoyed the high life oh indeed he did yes and this is partly why he was a million pounds in debt a million pounds in debt really in our nanny today so what staff would they have had here for victoria's visit altogether the house would have had about 30 people but you would have had the butler the housekeeper he probably had to hire in footman second footman various maids certainly a decent cook so we're talking about probably 20 people so what about the silver would the silver have been kept in here but there wasn't very much silver so he probably had to hire the silver in when the queen came and actually this was really important to him because he wanted to impress victoria so badly gosh i can imagine all the things he was thinking of for this one visit what a nightmare the poor bloke not only had to sort out the staff and the silver he also had the small matter of sorting out the war in turkey dizzy faced a difficult political dilemma as professor jane ridley explains turkey had been invaded by russia and it was a kind of axiom of british foreign policy that um you had to protect the route to india and to do that you had to prop up turkey and prop up turkey you've got to keep the russians um behaving well what israeli wants to do is to threaten um war against russia because he thinks that if he does that obviously the russians will back down and and come to terms but there's always the risk that having threatened the war the russians don't back down and you're in it then up to your neck aren't you that was indeed the risk and a lot of people in the cabinet um thought precisely that and said israeli's other problem is that his cabinet is split and so it is on a knife edge really what's going to happen whether we're going to have to go to war with russia or whether israeli is going to have to back down with egg on his face and give up this whole policy and the queen wants to stiffen him she's absolutely determined um that these monstrous russians must be taught a lesson get out of turkey this was a sticky situation for disraeli he had the queen barking in one ear his cabinet howling in the other and the last thing he wanted was to be seen as the lap dog of the monarch jane has this revealing copy of disraeli's memo to the queen detailing the dramatic cabinet meeting the day before she came to hewindon lord beckensfield proposed that your majesty should be advised to summon parliament immediately that a considerable increase of your majesty's forces should be proposed and that your majesty should simultaneously commence negotiations as mediator between the belligerents this is really hot stuff you know he's saying that the queen i mean by which he means the government um summon parliament send forces into um turkey um and also hopefully begin negotiations then lord darby spoke at length any active interference in eastern affairs by england was to be deprecated this is a really divided cabinet and lord darby you know foreign secretary number two in the cabinet is a big gun indeed yeah [Music] the cabinet was adjourned after victoria's visit when the matter was to be decided and not surprisingly victoria's backing paid off israeli got his way and the queen was delighted troops were ordered from india to malta 7 000 troops and the fleet appeared outside the dardanelles the russians were terrified um the russians backed down and agreed to a conference the congress of berlin disraeli went off as the british delegate and he was triumphant and he came back saying i have achieved peace with honor the origin of that praise you've gotta hand it to victoria what she wants she gets and this visit was worth every minute of her time let's hope our tipsy cake does the business today it's baked at a moderate heat for 50 minutes and left to stand so it's not too fragile to get out of the mold it's coming out nicely okay so what i'm going to do the best way is to turn it out actually onto your hand whoops if it is hot but how's that that looks wonderful well to make this tipsy cake really look good um the tradition was to cover it completely with an array of sliced almonds so it ends up looking like a porcupine or a hedgehog so very simply we just got to make some little knife wounds and then select a really good arm and make sure it's a whole one and then just push it in like that and i think we'll probably need a few hundred to finish that off we know victoria liked a slice of cake with her afternoon tea after all the victorious punch was named after her so the pressure's on to get this just right victoria was only here at hughenden for a few hours on that december day but her friendship with disraeli lasted for years mementos of which are everywhere of all the books in the library there's one that we're pretty certain israeli would have had prominently on display and that's this what's so special about this book we'll look at the title it's entitled leaves from the journal of our life in the highlands which is a book that victoria actually wrote and had published and what's special about this one is the inscription on the fly leaf look at that it says to the right honourable beed israeli in recollection of balmoral september 1868 the israeli was prime minister he would have gone to the highlands to visit the queen and she presented him with this book and actually signed it book victoria ah ah it seems israeli could do no wrong in victoria's eyes in fact when you see some of these presents you might be forgiven for thinking they were more than just good friends most extraordinary of all as a gift i think is this wash set a renaissance style jug and basin set but look at the handle a positively pornographic looking woman reclining on the top it's easy to imagine that with every gift that she gave him he felt more and more secure in the heart of the british establishment a position he'd craved all his life no greater gift perhaps than when she made him appear and here in his peers robes he would have felt well i don't know completely chuffed who wouldn't well i have to say i'm pretty chuffed as well because our victorian dessert is starting to take shape ready for our royal lunch ready for lord wanakatov eat a lot and now for the bit i've been looking forward to all day adding the booze i've got some larding pins in here because we're always instructed to make lots of holes in the cake so that the sherry which we're going to pour onto it can work its way down to the bottoms judo i think it's time to turn it into a tipsy cake so a little bit at a time which is probably gonna try are you gonna trust me i always trust you come on just pour it in today we're using cherry but in victorian times whiskey pork wine or brandy was just as popular just keep pouring it that's wonderful maybe a little bit lower down as well around the sides perfect never mind tipsy i think this cake is completely blotto actually so i wouldn't i wouldn't put any more sherry all right right now you finished off the tipsy cake with a very very simple milk and egg yolk custard lovely and you just pour it over well i personally feel it's much nicer if it's just around the base so if you just pour it up to about that level there go around nice and neatly so make a little pool of custard all the way around it and you get a bit more oh look at the alcohol as well yeah you get a little bit more custard in a sauce boat as well to pour over it i think it looks much nicer without yeah that's perfect that looks wonderful some tipsy cake some tipsy cake do you think tim's gonna enjoy that i think tim is going to absolutely love it well you know what they say about the proof and the pudding rosemary but before our lunch date i'm heading off just down the hill from hughenden to the local church sent michael's and all angels this is the final resting place of benjamin disraeli who died in 1881 four years after this visit victoria was so devastated by his death that she insisted on creating a memorial inside the church it's another insight into the depth of feeling she had for her prime minister and this is the stall that israeli occupied when he came to church but interestingly hanging on the wall above him is the regalia relating to his order of the garter and way up above that the associated banner and these things were brought and placed here expressly at the wish of victoria next door to the regalia is his memorial tablet exquisitely carved in carrara marble and erected by victoria in remembrance of him and is the only memorial tablet erected by a reigning sovereign in a parish church for a subject anywhere in britain so that's quite something disraeli left instructions in his will for a private not state funeral here in his local parish now convention dictates that the monarch can't go to the funeral of a commoner and although he'd been made a lord israeli was still a commoner so victoria couldn't attend but a rumor persists that she came and sat in her carriage in the valley below while disraeli was buried what we do know is that victoria returned to hewindon in person four days after the funeral she writes in her diary the flowers still remained as at the funeral then we walked around to the tomb which had been opened purposefully for me to see it there in a small place is dear lord beckons fields coffin covered with wreaths and flowers next to his wife's and there are others also of his family buried there could hardly realize it at all it seemed so sad and cheerless i placed a wreath of china flowers now the vault is to be closed and not used again interestingly victoria admits to mention another lady buried alongside israeli the burial plot thickens it says in memory of sarah bridges williams what is sarah bridges williams doing buried next door to israeli and his wife well she was an extraordinary jewess from the west country who befriended israeli and insisted that if he would become her executor and allow her to be buried next door to him then she would give him her entire estate which is exactly what came about because when she died in 1863 she was indeed interred here and israeli the cunning old fox picked up 30 000 pounds from her estate [Music] what's even more astonishing is that israeli's wife who was alive at the time went along with it who says money can't buy love eh foxy or not israeli left a huge hole in victoria's heart it would seem the most important men in her life were those she sadly lost first her beloved albert 20 years earlier and now disraeli after a visit to the church she came back to the house to pay her final respects the epilogue to victoria's relationship with israeli is really rather sad she came into this his room alone to contemplate his life this room is one of the least changed at hewindon as evidenced by photographs taken in 1880 on the desk we've got the dried remains of two poses of primroses disraeli's favorite flower which the queen had especially sent from osborne on the day of the funeral together with an affectionate note when she was in this room perhaps victoria sat in this very chair contemplating the desk that israeli had used as a schoolboy and maybe looking at the red dispatch box so very many memories and so very very sad [Music] well i think it's only fitting that we pay homage to this beautiful friendship with a treat we know both the fairy princess and dizzy would have loved time to present our own premiere with our magnificent tipsy cake well rosemary all this gloom and doom today has made me rather peckish what have you got here well i'm very glad because i want you to enjoy this this is called a tipsy cake ah now it is a savoy cake cooked with something poured over it so what i'd like to do first of all is just give you a taste oh yes please yes give me your plate and i'll do it from this side lovely easier it is very soft yes moist and i'm going to pour a little bit of custard over the top let's dig in and see if you like it i think it's just as well i'm not driving my car today because is it really alco pop this isn't it is is so alcoholic we've got about a pint of um cherry in there have we and i must tell you it is just amazing it soaks it up well that's marvellous isn't it why don't we do a toast to benjamin to israeli and queen victoria i'm with you cheerio [Music] next time on royal upstairs downstairs we're another 13 years on in victoria's royal roadshow the year is 1890 and the queen has a lunch date at waddest and manor in buckinghamshire but it was no ordinary date this was an extremely rare public appearance for a now elderly and reclusive queen who was about to celebrate her 71st birthday [Music] you

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 42,020

Rating: 4.9361701 out of 5

Keywords: real royalty, real royalty channel, british royalty, royalty around the world, royal history, queen victoria, tipsy cake, royal kitchens, royal upstairs downstairs

Id: tJb6MqD2X_A

Length: 28min 41sec (1721 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 30 2020