Have you ever wondered what it’s really like to attend a fancy royal dinner? We certainly have. Yes, it always looks gorgeous in pictures, but we’ve always suspected it would be very prim, very proper and—let’s be honest—a little stuffy. Well, it seems we were very wrong!
Nobody has spilled the beans (yet) on what dinner parties with King Charles are like, but the ones hosted by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, were apparently pretty spirited. One of the likely reasons? According to those working closest to her, the queen had a very clever (and surprisingly unroyal!) way to keep the conversation going at the table, with many guests revealing more than they’d probably intended to.
So how did the queen get her guests talking so openly? We’ll give you a hint: It’s a trick many of us are probably pretty familiar with too. Read on to see if you guessed right.
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How many events did Queen Elizabeth host in any given month?
Before we get to her slightly naughty party strategy, we should note just how many events Queen Elizabeth both hosted and attended over the course of her 70 years on the throne. She was in charge of a couple regular royal events every year, including four royal garden parties in the summer, as well as state banquets and a handful of palace receptions. While it’s hard to pinpoint exact numbers for all her soirees, we know that she welcomed guests to more than 150 state dinners in total during her reign.
When it came to attending events, those numbers balloon quickly. For example, her schedule peaked in 2016 with 332 engagements—yes, just in that one year! After that, the numbers went down due to both the pandemic and her advancing age. In 2022, her final year, she went to roughly 120 events.
What was her secret tactic for getting people to open up?
Her Majesty kept the drinks flowing! According to Julius Smith, her butler of 35 years, the queen made sure her guests’ wine glasses were constantly topped off. And if someone put their hands over their glasses to discreetly prevent yet another refill, the queen would instruct her servers to keep pouring. “She would say to pour it in through their fingers,” Smith recalled.
The only way out? Drinking very slowly, it seems. After all, telling the monarch a straightforward “no” would have been considered impolite (and certainly a breach of the strict royal etiquette rules). We can only imagine how many people must have left the table tipsy at the end of the night, probably not remembering half of what had happened—and what they had revealed to the queen—the following day.
Why did she do this?
One could argue it might have been her way of making high-profile guests spill all their (state) secrets. But Smith says there was a much simpler, and more relatable, reason: “She used to love to gossip.”
Her predilection for wanting all the tea was more or less confirmed by Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who claimed that the late monarch was obsessed with political gossip and always tried to get the “real story” behind the headlines. Of course, being curious about what was going on behind the scenes didn’t mean that the queen spread gossip herself. In fact, she was considered exceptionally discreet and a woman who’d keep her personal opinions to herself at all times.
In private, she had quite a mischievous side, though. According to Samantha Cohen, a royal aide who worked closely with the queen for nearly two decades, the monarch not only had a cheeky sense of humor but also secretly “loved it when things went wrong” during her many official engagements. “If a cake was not cutting or a plaque didn’t unveil, because everything was so perfectly organized, it spiced her life up when things went wrong,” Cohen revealed.
Behind closed doors, the queen didn’t need to hide her giggles. She was reportedly a big fan of the joke gifts at the royal Christmas party and was in stitches when Prince Harry pranked her with a cheeky message on her phone.
Did Queen Elizabeth enjoy imbibing herself?
She certainly did. At some point, it was rumored that the queen enjoyed four drinks a day, one of them being her favorite two-ingredient cocktail, which she drank before noon every day. That being said, those who knew her were quick to set the record straight and say that she did not actually lead a “boozy” lifestyle. Addressing the tabloid reports, her former chef Darren McGrady told CNN that “she’d be pickled if she drank that much,” while Smith phrased it slightly more diplomatically, saying, “She certainly wouldn’t be drinking … as part of the routine.”
The queen’s ex-butler cheekily told the Daily Mail that it was the queen mother who was the heaviest drinker in the family. That Queen Elizabeth, who died at the age of 101 in 2002, drank 70 alcohol units a week, according to royal insiders. That equals roughly 35 single shots or 31 glasses of wine! She reportedly drank two glasses of Veuve Clicquot pink champagne per day, along with different wines and spirits.
Does King Charles drink?
The current monarch has been spotted having a drink occasionally, but he is not considered a heavy drinker. He likes wine as well as gin and tonic, but his favorite drink is reportedly a martini. His friend Count Tibor Kalnoky revealed that he had one every night before dinner when he visited him in Romania years ago. Fun fact: Charles apparently always drinks from his own cocktail glass, which he brings in his bag when traveling overseas.
Prince William, next in line to the throne, also seems to enjoy a drink once in a while. When visiting the Prince of Peckham pub in London in June 2026, he declared that he “loves pubs,” adding, “I want to do as much as I can to support them because I love the community. … We need to protect our pubs.” Most commoners probably wouldn’t argue with that.
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Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone’s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth’s daily snack to Prince William’s confessions about his home life. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Daily Mail: “A former butler reveals exactly what the royal family REALLY eat and drink… and the late queen’s ‘tipsy’ trick for getting guests gossiping”
- The Telegraph: “Late Queen liked political ‘gossip,’ says Nicola Sturgeon”
- The Guardian: “Elizabeth II: a constant queen whose failings were rare”
- The Guardian: “Bring back the magic hour”
- Marie Claire: “Queen Elizabeth’s mischievous side came out when ‘things went wrong’ at royal engagements, longtime aide remembers”
- CNN: “Royal chef sets record straight on what Queen Elizabeth eats and drinks”
- Royal Collection Trust: “State banquets at Buckingham Palace”
- GBN: “King Charles secret drinking habit revealed: ‘Every night before dinner'”
- Sky News: “Prince William: I love pubs – we must protect them”
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