from The Times Sept 17th 2003
How Elizabeth's lover laid on a feast fit for a queen
By Simon de Bruxelles
THE shopping list for one of English history’s
most sumptuous feasts has been found in the archives of Longleat House.
The banquet was thrown for Elizabeth I by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester,
in July 1560, around the time many historians believe that he became her lover.
The bill for the food alone came to £83 16s 6d, equivalent to just under
£20,000 today. The shopping list included ten sheep, six herons, 48
teal, 60 eggs, 41 dozen loaves and 89lb of butter. Dudley paid 6s 4d each
for six shoveller ducks.
This was not good value compared with the excellent food available at The Shelford Feast.