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Celebrate the DIAMOND JUBILEE with a royal stay, ‘AFTERNOON TEA’ and ART AT MANDARIN ORIENTAL, HONG KONG, one of my favourite hotel groups. Guests staying at Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong from now to 10 June, will be able to celebrate  Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s sixty year reign, and the Diamond Jubilee in style, with a quintessentially British Diamond Jubilee ‘Royal Afternoon Tea’ and a rare viewing of a range of royal artwork and photography.

The hotel’s iconic Clipper Lounge will form the backdrop for 27 works of art by HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH Queen Victoria and Prince Albert along with photographs by Lord Snowdon, in conjunction with the Belgravia Gallery in London. The Royal Collection of Art will be for sale and buyers will receive a gift certificate entitling them to a guided tour around HRH The Prince of Wales’s private gardens at Highgrove, followed by a champagne tea.

To complement the lithographs, photographs and etchings by members of the Royal Family in Hong Kong, Mandarin Oriental’s Executive Chef Uwe Opocensky, who cooked for HM The Queen and HRH Prince Philip’s 50^th anniversary dinner, will offer a truly Royal British Afternoon Tea using the finest of British ingredients.

Offerings will include Rhug Estate Coronation Chicken (created for Her Majesty’s Coronation 60 years ago) and Poached Scottish Salmon Sandwiches; Mini Yorkshire Pudding Roast Beef, Horseradish and Watercress and even Salmon Wellington and Mini Organic Pork Pies.  Royal Victoria Sponge (named after Queen Victoria) and Battenberg Cake (rumoured to be one of HM Queen’s favourites) will be part of the sweet treat offerings and no Royal Afternoon Tea would be complete without warm scones, clotted cream, home-made jams and a choice of 17 different teas.  

John Pond.