This Christmas the Christmas feast is going to be a Royal one. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have joined cooking legend, Mary Berry, for a new BBC Christmas special. The royal couple along with Mary Berry will serve a festive feast to thank the people from their charities, who are spending their Christmas helping others.
Last week, it was reported that the Duchess of Cambridge hosted this year’s first Christmas party at the Rosewood Hotel London for the Midwives. Mary planned the recipes for that party too. On November 07, the Duchess visited BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London to meet director general Tony Hall after launching Emergencies Trust Launch.
In the forthcoming special ‘A Berry Royal Christmas’ that will be aired on BBC at 8:30 PM on 16 December, the show will have the royal couple and the celebrated chef on the terrace of Swedish-inspired Elyx Chalet hotel preparing food that has a special treat – Christmas Meringue Roulade. They were also joined by the former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain.
Announcing the new show, the BBC said: “Throughout the programme, Mary will also be cooking some of her favourite Christmas recipes for viewers to try out at home as she helps prepare the festive food for a very royal event to thank all those working and volunteering over the Christmas period.”
The food will be served to the volunteers and staff of various charities supported by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge including nurses, emergency services workers, staff from a mother and baby unit and armed forces personnel. From Hello!
“The Duke and Duchess were joined by Mary on several different engagements over the past couple of months and showed her some of the charities and patronages close to their hearts to explain a bit about why they do what they do. They wanted to show her why they care so much about these organisations and Mary comes up with ideas for recipes for the event.”
Known as the Queen of TV Cookery, Mary accompanied William and Catherine on four of their engagements this year, where they showed showing Mary the work of several charities they are involved with. The show will have moments from those visits. Talking about her work with the royal couple, Mary said she is honoured to be invited to join them,
“It will be truly special to see the causes so close to their hearts, as well as to hear all about the amazing support these charities provide. The finale is a big Christmas party and I will be cooking up a feast for them to enjoy. A-one hour Christmas special not to be missed..
Among the visits are Catherine and Mary visiting the Brink in Liverpool, the U.K.’s first dry bar, which was set up by Catherine’s charity Action on Addiction. Duchess is said to be a long time fan of British Cookery Queen Mary and a long-time viewer of The Great British Baking Show. Mary was a judge on that show.
Another activity involves Catherine and Mary, working behind the scenes at the Royal Horticulture Society’s Wisley Garden that was inspired from The Duchess’ ‘Back To Nature’ Garden, to learn more about The Duchess’s commitment to the early years in raising the next generation of happy, healthy children. Both were seen icing cupcakes for young guests invited to the garden’s opening. As per Hello!!, “A source said of the royal TV appearance, thought to be the Duchess’s most substantial one to date: “It’s heart-warming. The conversations they have to pull on the heartstrings. “You get a really good sense of who she is – maybe more so than before.”
The Duchess of Cambridge designed RHS ‘Back to Nature Garden’ earlier this year to encourage families to spend time outdoors. The Garden was displayed at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, then Hampton Court in July, then in Surrey in September this year where she was also joined by Mary there.
The Duke of Cambridge and Mary Berry visited Passage Charity to meet some of the 130,000 people helped by the charity’s resource centre, homelessness prevention projects and two innovative accommodation services. Passage Charity is the U.K.’s largest resource centre for homeless and insecurely housed people.
From Victoria Murphy’s report, Charlotte Moore, Director BBC Content, said the “extra special festive show…shines the spotlight on the staff and volunteers from charities and organisations who dedicate their time over Christmas.” She described it as: “Full of inspiring stories, festive food and Christmas cheer.”
In a conversation between Mary and William, filmed during a secret visit to the homeless charity The Passage last month, the future king paid tribute to his parents and grandparents for their charity work over the years. Asked where his own motivation to help came from, the Duke said: “Growing up both of my parents were hugely charitable. My father set up the Prince’s Trust. He’s involved in so many different organisations. My mother has done her work with homelessness and as you said AIDs and other charities and I think I’ve grown up in a household which has been very much a case of ‘well, we’re very lucky – you must give back.’
“And you know, my grandmother becoming Queen at a very young age, in the days when it was a man’s world, it was very difficult for her to … make a difference. And she’s done it. In her own very unique, distinct way, and you know, my grandmother and my grandfather together are the epitome of public service. And I personally get a lot out of helping people. I find that you hear and you understand and you learn so much more by giving a bit of your time, a bit of your day, to just be around.”
This is not the first time we are seeing The Duchess of Cambridge on TV. Earlier in June, Catherine joined Kids and Families on CBBC’s Children’s show, Blue Peter. We have seen the Duke and Duchess trying their hand at cooking a few times in past. You must remember when they helped to prepare soup and bread for young people helped by homeless charity Centrepoint in November last year.
In the pics that were released by Palace today, we saw The Duchess of Cambridge in two different outfits. In the pics from the upcoming show, Catherine is wearing a very festive dress. She is wearing a modified version of Alessandra Rich’s silk polka dot dress.
The $1588 dress is described on Matches Fashion as, “Alessandra Rich’s whimsical sensibility shines through in this dress, a standout piece in her AW19 lookbook. Crafted in Italy from lightweight silk, it’s printed with small polka dots and petals and has structured padded shoulders that are offset by the feminine keyhole neckline and the pleated skirt falls to a sweeping midi length. Wear it with red accessories for a vibrant daytime look.”
Catherine’s dress has a neckline of the label’s Dotted silk midi dress that was featured on Elbe Couture House’s August post here. The dress is currently retailing at $952.
A closer look at the pattern.
It looks like Duchess of Cambridge is wearing Queen’s Diamond and Pearl Small Earrings and Gianvito Rossi’s ‘Gianvito 105’ Red pumps.
In the picture where The Duchess was visiting Dry Bar, she is wearing a jersey knitted top and a skirt what looked like a grey or dark blue colour topped with a black belt and black suede boot. I will update the post when more details are available.
Update: The second dress that looked like a skirt and top was actually a dress from Massimo Dutti. @Palace_Avenue on Twitter noted that it could be Massimo Dutti’s High Neck Belted Dress that Catherine topped with her black belt.
The dress featuring an A-line silhouette, high neck, bow-style belt, long sleeves, belt loops and ribbed trim is not available any more.
Next, we will see the Duchess of Cambridge on December 03 at the NATO reception.