Prince William and Prince Harry

Over a bottle of Léoville-Barton 1988 with importer extraordinaire of all things French, Thierry van den Bosch, at La Rustica in Houghton (best pepper fillet in town), conversation speculated that if the Brits ever get a republican itch to dismantle the house of Windsor, the various family members will be snapped up in a flash by the liquor PR industry.

Anne de Courcy’s recent biography of the Queen’s former brother-in-law, Snowdon (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008), pulls no punches. Princess Margaret and celebrity photographer Tony Snowdon were such party animals that her exasperated private secretary was forced to send a plaintive missive: “Would it be possible for there to be one day in the week (say Wednesdays) when you do not entertain?”

Margaret’s tipple was Famous Grouse whisky on the rocks and her party trick was to identify (blind) the brand of vodka used to make her (numerous) martinis. Tony’s best friend was Anthony Barton, “a tall, extremely good-looking young man of Irish extraction who lived in France, where his family owned the famous Château Léoville-Barton vineyard in Bordeaux and a thriving wine export business”. The pair met at a party at Jesus College, Cambridge, where “everyone was drinking South African sherry because of its cheapness”.

Barton was a frequent visitor to London on wine business and was even given his own room in Kensington Palace. When the Sunday Times hired Snowdon for a photo shoot in India in 1966, Barton changed rooms. “One evening, with no preliminaries, Margaret said to Barton: ‘Let’s go to bed.’ Startled, he replied: ‘No, I think our relationship’s not that.’ She edged closer and said: ‘Well, I think you could be a bit more cuddly.’ Few men could have resisted her, and Barton did not.” When Tony found out about the affair, he burst into floods of tears, which he explained away saying he had a cold and soon forgave his friend. In former times he’d have been lucky to escape with his head.

While Margaret was a heroic drinker, her mother made her look like a novice. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, would drink around 70 units of alcohol a week (the recommended maximum for a lady being 14) and lived a healthy life until the ripe old age of 101. No fewer than 11 wine merchants, whisky and gin producers were awarded her royal warrant and her hatboxes were used to transport her gin when she travelled.

Equerry Major Colin Burgess reports in Behind Palace Doors (John Blake, 2006) that the Queen Mum’s drinking day would start at noon with her favourite cocktail: gin and Dubonnet – two parts pink vermouth to one of gin. Lunch included red wine and 6pm was her “magic hour” when she started on martinis. At dinner she drank two glasses of Veuve Clicquot rosé before settling down to watch reruns of Fawlty Towers. An anonymous Anglican bishop told the Daily Telegraph that “she is very much a gin drinker. I think it’s pickled her” and stories of her prodigious capacity abound.
This capacity continues in the younger generation. Prince Harry was a famous underage drinker and his older brother is far from abstemious. At the marriage of their uncle Prince Edward to Sophie Rhys-Jones, Louis Roederer NV Champagne was the tipple, and in the wedding photographs taken by Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, the image of Prince William was judged so bad, it had to be digitally removed and replaced by a more sober one.

Neil Pendock writes for the Sunday Times and Financial Mail. He judged at prominent international wine competition Concours Mondial this year.