The National lifestyle
With Harry and Meghan’s big day a week away, we discover how noble nuptials influence food and wedding trends.
You may well be familiar with the Kate Middleton effect – otherwise known as the Kate effect or the Duchess effect – a fashion phenomenon that sees sales of certain clothing soar after Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, steps out in them. Her daughter, 3-year-old princess Charlotte, wields the same power when it comes to toddler outfits, and in the build-up to next week’s royal wedding, Prince Harry’s bride-to-be Meghan Markle has been creating similar sartorial waves.
It’s not just in the world of fashion that the choices made by the British royals influence the wider public though – it happens with food too.
Creating signature dishes for royalty
When Prince William reintroduced the Victorian tradition of the groom’s cake at his wedding in 2011, he did so with a chocolate fridge cake, a no-bake delight he apparently enjoyed as a young boy when having afternoon tea with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. As a result of William’s endorsement, the Rich Tea biscuit – never the most popular treat in the tin – garnered a whole host of new fans and a slew of recipes appeared online and in cookery books and magazines alike.
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