King Charles hosts his first pre-Easter party with well known guests

King Charles hosts his first ‘dine and sleep’ pre-Easter party at Windsor Castle with guests including England manager Gareth Southgate and Sir Keir Starmer

• Charles resurrects Queen Elizabeth’s tradition of holding pre-Easter dinner party

King Charles has held his first ‘dine and sleep’ at Windsor Castle, with an eclectic list of guests including England football manager Gareth Southgate and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Following in the footsteps of his late mother, the new monarch has resurrected Queen Elizabeth’s tradition of holding a pre-Easter dinner party and ‘sleep over’ at his Berkshire residence on Tuesday night.

Among the 23 guests present were the author Alexander McCall Smith, actress Ayesha Dharker and her mother, the poet and filmmaker Imtiaz Dharker.

England boss Southgate was joined by his wife Alison and politician Sir Keir by his wife Lady Starmer.

Southgate is an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, the youth charity set up by King Charles, and the pair have met a number of times.

King Charles and Queen Camilla pictured at Buckingham Palace prior to the coronation ceremony

King Charles and Gareth Southgate, Prince’s Trust Ambassador pictured at an event in January

King Charles III during an audience with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Buckingham Palace, London last year

Other invitees included Professor of Sikh Studies Jagbir Jhutti-Johal, art historian and museum curator Dame Rosalind Savill, the Norwegian ambassador, the Canadian High Commissioner, the Bishop of Coventry and the Dean of Windsor.

Also present was cross bench peer and Privy Council member Lord Kakkar and Lieutenant General Philip Jones, a former British army office and chief of staff at NATO.

Dine and sleeps have almost a mythical status in royal circles. They are never announced in advance – details are only given the following morning in the Court Circular – and no official pictures are taken.

The guest list is always remarkably diverse, with figures from the worlds of politics, art, music, literature, sports, medicine and academia all sat round the table together.

Guests are given a room for the night and breakfast before they depart.

Very few people outside of the Royal Family ever get to stay at Windsor, which is particularly beautiful in the spring and considered the ‘plum’ gig – as opposed to the formality of Buckingham Palace or the midges of Balmoral – so invitations to dine and sleep soirees are particularly rare and sought after.

Interestingly the King chose to invite the leader of the opposition for his for his first such event, rather than the Prime Minister.

But the two meet weekly and sources say Queen Elizabeth would often invite shadow ministers.

British writer Alexander McCall Smith (left) and Ayesha Dharker pictured previously at Buckingham Palace during a reception for winners of the Queen’s Commonwealth

Poet and film maker Imtiaz Dharker was also among the invitees 

Indeed the only time a dine and sleep was captured on camera for a documentary in the 1980s, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock was there.

Guests have to get to used to having their bags not just taken up to their room by staff but unpacked by them and their clothes hung up.

The attention to detail in any of their royal residences is legendary, with thoughtful touches of shortbreads, say, or books to the guest’s known tastes.

Dinner dress is black tie – but not glitzy – and excessive alcohol consumption is not generally encouraged.

The food has always been simple but elegant and tends to be cultivated as much as possible from Windsor Home Farm.

At royal dinner parties the host – now the King – tends to talks to the person on their left during one course and the person on their right during the next.

Queen Elizabeth would also personally treat her guests to a post-dinner tour of the castle, with herself as guide, although it is not known if the king has carried on the same tradition.

While guests are not encouraged to discuss their experiences widely in order to retain the mystique, legend has it that one dine and sleep guest was forced to call for help after dropping her plunge bra down the toilet, something that Windsor’s ancient plumbing was not designed to cope with.

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