Title: Afternoon Tea – A Regular Royal Tradition - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Description: The year was 1840, and the seventh Duchess of Bedford, Anna – who was a ‘lady of the bedchamber’ and good friend of Queen Victoria – found herself feeling peckish one afternoon. The hunger pangs struck at around 4 o’clock, and as the household’s evening meal wasn’t until the fashionably late time of 8 o’clock in the evening (in the summer months it would be even later), the thought of having to wait four long hours for a nibble and a sip, was simply too much for the Duchess to bear. So, she asked one of her servants to bring her some bread and butter and cake on a tray, along with a steaming hot cup of tea. Having found this mid afternoon snack and beverage much to her liking, it quickly became a habit of hers, and she was soon inviting her friends round to join her. Afternoon tea then became a fashionable event adopted by other well to do folks, and the women would dress up in long gowns and hats for the daily ritual, which usually occurred in the drawing room. – PowerPoint PPT presentation