Justine Picardie

Dinner hosted by their Graces The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough in the presence of HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO.

Reception cocktails by The Times spirits and cocktails writer Alice Lascelles

Join the editor of fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar, novelist and biographer Justine Picardie for a royal black tie literary dinner with a menu designed and overseen by the Royal Chef to Her Majesty The Queen, Mark Flanagan, MVO. The dinner celebrates the 90th birthday of Her Majesty and is in the magnificent surroundings of the Blenheim Palace Orangery. Picardie will talk after dinner about how the palace has inspired great fashion houses. Guests will also enjoy a welcome cocktail devised by Alice Lascelles, The Times spirits and cocktails writer and author of Ten Cocktails: The Art of Convivial Drinking.

Flanagan is co-author with former Deputy Master of the Royal Household, Edward Griffiths, CVO, of A Royal Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes from Buckingham Palace, the first cookery book to come from the Royal Household, and published through The Royal Collection. Flanagan, who worked previously for Michel and Albert Roux and The Wentworth Club before taking on the job at the Royal Household, will base his menu on recipes from the book and his vast experience of providing royal dinners.

Picardie is editor of Harper’s Bazaar magazine. She is author of five books including a memoir, If the Spirit Moves You, a novel, Daphne, and a biography, Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life. She also speaks about Dior’s visit to Blenheim at a festival event on Saturday.

Dinner is preceded by a reception. The price of this event includes reception, drinks, dinner, wines, and a signed copy of Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life by Picardie.

Previous speakers at the festival dinner have been:
Richard Holmes (2008)
Andrew Roberts (2009)
Peter Snow (2010)
Sir Terry Wogan (2011)
Frederick Forsyth (2012)
Lucy Worsley (2013)
Jonathan Miller (2014)
Antony Beevor (2015).

Sponsored by HSBC.