Gold plates and black hats: When Buckingham Palace went kosher - The Jewish Chronicle

The time was February 1997. The occasion was the first state visit by Ezer Weizman, President of Israel, to Britain. But there was a problem. A magnificent banquet was planned, with a third of the guests eating kosher; but there was no kosher kitchen at Buckingham Palace.

Usually, the caterers can bring along their own plates and utensils. But at the royal residence, everything has to match, so all guests, whether observant or not, were obliged to use palace crockery.

Enter kashrut superhero Rabbi Jeremy Conway, director of the London Beth Din’s Kashrut Division. With just weeks to go, he was parachuted in to Buckingham Palace together with Tony Page, the kosher caterer selected for the prestigious event.

They held an urgent meeting with the Master of the Household, Major-General Sir Simon Cooper, and members of “F” Branch (“F” stands for “Food”). As politely as he could, Rabbi Conway explained the basics of kashrut.

Sir Simon was very agreeable. But when he heard that all the crockery, cutlery and other equipment had to be plunged into boiling water, he referred them to the Butler of Silver Pantry.

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Ezer Weizman, the Queen, Reuma Weizman and Prince Philip during the state visit

Showing the Jewish pair around his treasure house, with its shelves of glittering dishes and china, he offered them a choice between gold or silver. Rabbi Conway selected the golden plates and bowls, as unlike china or earthenware, he would be able to kosher them.

“We were extremely impressed by the helpfulness and sangfroid of the Royal Household, who went out of their way to conform to the needs of observant Jews, even when told that their centuries-old gold crockery was to be placed into boiling water as part of the koshering process,” Rabbi Conway told the JC.

More challenges were to come. The Butler of the Silver Pantry then showed them the bone china plates intended for pudding. Because china cannot be koshered, Rabbi Conway asked if they had some new ones which hadn’t yet been touched by non-kosher food.

“I don’t think so, sir,” the butler replied. “These are George the Third.” Disaster was averted when they decided on fruit salad for pudding. As it is served cold, the Beth Din gave special dispensation to use the George the Third crockery.

With anticipation building, the rabbi’s next visit to the palace came a few days before the banquet, when it was time to douse the cutlery and crockery in boiling water. All went smoothly.

Then came another problem: how would the staff know which plates had been treated? As a solution, Rabbi Conway stuck a very small KLBD sticker on the bottom of each plate. “In all probability, they are still there to this day,” he said.

Then there was the wine. This also had to be kosher. Once again, Major-General Sir Simon Cooper listened as Rabbi Conway explained the difference between pasteurised (mevushal) and non-pasteurised wines.

The latter are much better quality, but Jewish law dictates that they can only be served by waiters who observe Shabbat. None of the palace wine butlers were Jewish, Sir Simon confirmed, let alone shomer shabbat.

Eventually, the palace broke with protocol and permitted a small number of Jewish wine waiters to serve.

With that problem solved, the hunt was now on to find a (non-pasteurised) kosher red wine that would be acceptable to Her Majesty. The Buckingham Palace machinery swung into action.

After two fruitless weeks of scouring Europe — including a visit to the South of France — an acceptable wine was found closer to home, in the palace wine cellar.

Tactfully questioning the authenticity of the bottles, Rabbi Conway inquired about the circumstances under which a fine kosher red had come into palace possession.

“A case of an excellent, gold-medal-award-winning Israeli wine had been presented to the Queen by the Israeli Embassy some years previously,” Rabbi Conway recalled. “It had been stored in the palace cellars, just waiting for the right occasion.”

The evening of the banquet arrived. Rabbi Conway was present, alongside two shomrim — kosher supervisors — and five Jewish wine waiters. “I witnessed the magnificent layout of the banqueting tables,” he said, “with the crockery and cutlery being placed in perfect symmetry.

"There were not three but six glasses. One for champagne, one for red wine, one for white wine, one for water, one for more champagne to go with the pudding, and last but not least, a final glass for port.

“The Queen personally carried out a final check to ensure everything had been laid perfectly.

Everything had to be exact and precise, such as the requirement that the napkins were laid out exactly 17 inches apart.”

During the banquet, all palace staff were able to watch the special occasion on a television screen that had been set up just outside the ballroom.

The high point of the event was a toast delivered by the Queen to Israel’s President, ending with a cheery “l’chaim”.

Rabbi Conway was deeply moved when Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, was played. “I recalled my grandfather’s involvement in the epic struggle for the creation of the State of Israel only 50 years earlier,” he said.

j“It was incredibly inspiring in many ways, not least to see the respect the palace showed for our ancient biblical traditions and Jewish practices.”

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