Queen Elizabeth never has 13 people at dinners in case the guests are superstitious, claims royal expert: 'She also believes in ghosts'
Queen Elizabeth II often hosts guests at Buckingham Palace, and while stringent rules are expected to be enforced, there's one that's a little bit of a head-scratcher: she makes sure that she never has exactly 13 people on her invitation list.
The revelation came from royal commentator Phil Dampier, who said that the Queen, 93, was very particular about this number not because of her own beliefs, but in case that her guests might be superstitious.
"She won’t let 13 people sit down at a dinner table, not because she is superstitious but in case guests are," Dampier explained.
However, while the Queen does not associate the number with bad luck as many do, Dampier said she did have some other superstitions and supernatural beliefs. "She does believe in ghosts and has several lucky charms in her handbag," he said.
Besides ensuring that the number of guests at a banquet isn't exactly 13, there are quite a few other preparations that are undertaken to host a state banquet -- preparations that can take as many as five days to complete to guarantee precision.
A total of 2,000 silver-gilt knives, forks, and spoons which are laid out are a mix of different pieces collected by George IV in the early 19th Century. Each diner is given a precise area of 45 cm for their place setting, which includes six glasses -- two for champagne, one for water, one each for red and white wine, and one for port -- and two discs of butter stamped with the royal crest.
Wine is served to guests from Edwardian decanters with silver-gilt labels, and guests are given their own banquet book which includes the menu bound in the colors of the country they are visiting from.
Furthermore, a team of 76 pages, footmen, under-butlers and wine butlers work in groups of four from 19 service areas around the ballroom and use a traffic light system to ensure each plate is placed on the table at exactly the same time.
The Daily Mail reported that the Queen is served a plate at random to prevent assassination attempts.
"After everything is plated up, a page chooses at random one of the plates to be served to Her Majesty," explained royal correspondent Emily Andrews. "So if anyone did want to poison the monarch, they’d have to poison the whole lot."