Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 - Issue 87 i The Rake

When I read the Editor-in-Chief’s letter, which he wrote during a trip to Havana — you can read it overleaf — the joie de vivre that flowed from each sentence gave me the inspiration I was looking for. I decided to write this Founder’s note (the 87th such missive, if anyone is counting) from the soft sands of the Maldives, where the man across the beach from me had just explained an important life lesson with the perfect economy of words. He said, “In life you can be a missionary or you can be a mercenary. Interestingly, a lot of the guys who are purely financially driven when creating their businesses never really make that much money” — he meant in terms of Silicon Valley venture-capital God-tier money — “but…

The opening scene of the opening episode of the first season of The Crown makes it clear that Netflix’s juggernaut is unafraid to go straight for the Windsor jugular: here is a man, prostrate and ashen, coughing up blood into a toilet. The man is King George VI (played by Jared Harris). It would be wrong, however, to see this abject scene as some kind of supine metaphor for a reluctant and redundant reign. Despite George’s unlooked-for elevation from spare to heir, on the abdication of his brother Edward in December 1936, and the myriad ways he seemed unsuited to the role of sovereign — the retiring temperament, the crippling speech impediment, the fact that he’d never clapped eyes on a state paper — Britain’s previous king is now regarded…

Churchill said that the Soviet Union was a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. If we were to turn the lens on the British establishment, the enigma would be the monarchy; the mystery would be the family members; and the riddle — well, that would be the courtier. The courtier’s job every day is to be hidden in plain sight, always by the monarch’s side but never noticeable. They must be impeccable in a way that an average civil servant need not be. Many use the same tailor as their charges, and the very best require adequate lapel support for the array of gongs, honours and metaphorical respect bestowed upon them (Christopher Geidt was knighted three times). Courtiers needn’t worry about a social life. Royal service demands round-the-clock…

Purdey’s Sidelock Side-by-Side gun James Purdey & Sons’ home on South Audley Street in Mayfair is a kind of top-end curiosity shop for rural sports enthusiasts. The cabinets that line its walls are rammed with curios such as pheasant-crested caviar dishes, deerskin-lined falconry gloves, and marquetry humidors that replicate the building you’re visiting. Wind a few narrow corridors and you’ll end up at the fulcrum of British gunmaking: the Long Room, a space flanked by paintings of menacing-looking Purdey patriarchs from over the years, gunmaking tools, and handcrafted firearms from the past two centuries. It has hosted clients since the premises became Purdey’s purpose-built headquarters in 1883. This rectangular zone of London is — like many such parcels of land in this part of the capital — a historical pulse…

Before I discovered it was possible to make a living from writing in ways that did not involve churning out stories for the popular press, I worked in the dog-eat-dog world of news agency journalism, where many young reporters cut their teeth. We were typically in our twenties and had been ‘indentured’ with a parochial paper before finding work with an agency as a conduit to a job on the ‘nationals’. Said national newspapers use such agencies to root out stories that — if deemed sufficiently interesting — are invariably passed on to the paper’s own, better paid, correspondents, who tweak them a bit and take all the glory. In other words, agency types are the journalistic equivalent of foot soldiers. They are the ones who do the donkey work,…

While we hear all too often about the horse that made an entrance to a certain nightclub in New York, we don’t hear about the horse that made its way into the coronation of King James II. Some argue that we are living in the best conditions that human beings have ever experienced, but at this particular coronation, in 1685, the list for the feast of James II was so long and exotic, you can get indigestion just reading it. The spectacle was meticulously recorded by Francis Sandford, the Lancaster Herald at arms. A total of 1,445 dishes were served, including “24 puffins, 12 lobsters, 12 leverets and, to finish, 3 dozen glasses of bla-mange”. The wine list was — how shall I put it — extensive. Where am I…

I am writing this letter from a balcony at the rather lovely Grand Packard Hotel in Havana, overlooking the lighthouse and the endless sea that doubles as the watery hedge around this mystical island, keeping it hidden from most people’s view. I’ve been here before, exactly 10 years ago, and the experience then made me feel like the protagonist of a Rider Haggard novel. I was young and excitable, you see, and had only recently discovered a taste for cigars. Throw in the music, the dancing, the weather, the architecture and the entrancing chaos within, and you can imagine the trip was a great success. It was cigars that took me to Cuba last time, and it is cigars that have brought me back — invited by the wonderful Jemma…

It is not easy to remain incognito in this world. We have so many curtains opened to our lives; there are so many opportunities for people to take a peek and draw their conclusions about us. It’s even harder for those who have something to show for their lives and achievements. Some are smarter than others at keeping a low profile, and Guy Belot is one of those happy few who have managed to stay under the radar (except ours). Everywhere we have gone recently, Guy’s name seems to have cropped up — from a drink named in his honour at 5 Hertford Street to boxes of cigars put away for him by various London merchants. For a 27-year-old, this is unusual, and it piqued our curiosity towards this Gatsbyish…

Catherine the Great organised a military coup d’état that ousted her husband, Peter III (who was subsequently murdered by her lover’s brother), and then went on to revitalise Russia. Henry IV displaced his cousin Richard II from the throne and had him thrown into the dungeon, and became the first King of England since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English. Ebrahim, of the Afsharid dynasty, pilfered the throne in that part of modern-day Iran from his brother, Adel Shah Afshar, in 1748, having blinded then murdered his sibling. Most great usurpings have seen people of noble blood maim and butcher their spouses or relatives in pursuit of power. Not so in the case of my proud entry into the hallowed nooks and crannies of the Sandringham estate, Clarence…

Savile Row is preparing for the Charles bounce. The Prince of Wales may have been in the public eye for all of his 74 years, but his coming coronation is expected to bring boom times for British tailoring. After all, Charles has long been a regular on ‘best dressed’ lists. His preferred look — draped, wide-lapelled double-breasted suits without pocket-flaps, thank you — may be nothing to scare the guardsmen’s horses, but it is a signature of consistency and, as one might expect from the King, class. “It’s important to us to have someone who wears his clothes so beautifully,” says Anda Rowland, the owner of Anderson & Sheppard, the royal warrant holders who remain, alongside Gieves & Hawkes, Charles’s go-to tailors. “This is less about being some dandy as…

The latest round of the British royal soap opera, Carry On Up the Windsors, has occasioned much gnashing of teeth. Many times we have been told that the antics of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have imperilled the royal family itself. It’s a stretch. Yes, the young prince had a youthful career that included getting naked in a Las Vegas hotel suite and dressing as a Nazi to a fancy-dress party, as well as more regular falling-out-of-nightclub moments. Yes, he has sought some publicity recently, despite claiming he wanted to move to North America to escape the glare of the rapacious tabloid media. But in six hours of Netflix documentary, the Sussexes revealed little of note. They met on Instagram. Their first date was at Soho House. They dressed…

ADRIANO MENEGHETTI – www.adrianomeneghetti.com ALBERT THURSTON – www.albertthurston.com ALFRED RIFUGIO – www.alfredrifugio.it ALICE MADE THIS – www.alicemadethis.com AMOUR LUX – www.armorlux.com ANDERSON & SHEPPARD – www.anderson-sheppard.co.uk ANDREA POMPILIO – www.andreapompilio.it ASPREY – www.asprey.com AUDEMARS PIGUET – www.audemarspiguet.com AUDI – www.audi.co.uk BALLY – www.bally.com BAMFORD – www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com BARBANERA – www.barbanerastyle.com BATES – www.bates-hats.com BEGG & CO. – www.beggandcompany.com BELL & ROSS – www.bellross.com BELSTAFF – www.belstaff.co.uk BERLUTI – www.berluti.com BERRY BROS. & RUDD – www.bbr.com BLACKHORSE LANE ATELIERS – www.blackhorselane.com BLANCPAIN – www.blancpain.com BORSALINO – www.borsalino.com BREGUET – www.breguet.com BRIONI – www.brioni.com BROOKS BROTHERS – www.brooksbrothers.com BRUNELLO CUCINELLI – www.brunellocucinelli.com BULGARI HOTEL – www.bulgarihotels.com BUDD SHIRTMAKERS – www.buddshirts.co.uk BULGARI – www.bulgari.com CALABRESE 1924 – www.calabrese1924.com CAMOSHITA UNITED ARROWS – www.united-arrows.jp CANALI – www.canali.com CARMINA SHOEMAKER – www.carminashoemaker.com CARUSO – www.carusomenswear.com CERRUTI…

ed cumming Ed Cumming is a senior feature writer for The Telegraph and a former T.V. and restaurant critic for The Independent. He has also written for The New York Times, The Observer, The Guardian, Vogue and Tatler — but above all, of course, for The Rake. For our latest issue, Ed looked at the eclectic history of royals behaving badly, and found that by the standards of their forebears, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s recent machinations hardly register. Not only are they tame by ancient standards, they can’t even compete with the British royal scandals of the 20th century. Find Ed’s story on page 104. simon de burton Simon is a freelance journalist and author who writes about cars, motorcycles, boats and watches. He has been a contributing…

If the function of a royal consort is to keep their head down and wave, then Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands was a disaster. Debonair to the point of flamboyance, the life companion of Queen Juliana made Britain’s Prince Philip look shy and retiring, overshadowing his wife throughout her reign in almost every way imaginable. Over the course of his 93 years, Bernhard was both hero and villain. To some, he helped save his nation; to others, he was an egotistical, immoral, even evil figure. Twenty years on from his death, the country remains undecided on how it feels about him: shame, mockery, admiration, or a combination of the three. Like all royals, he is an enigma, obscured by official secrecy and backstairs gossip, but a life lived to the…

Ever been in a relationship that didn’t work out before moving on to something better? Ever wondered what it would have been like if you and your first love found each other again as adults? Ever had one of your phone calls leaked for profit and your most personal intimacies made public fodder then managed to retain not only a semblance of positivity but dignity and good humour? Chances are you said yes to the first two questions and no fucking idea what that would be like to the third. Camilla, Queen Consort has lived all three. So, in the infinite wisdom of Deadpool, “let’s pump the hate-brakes, Fox & Friends”. You know the backstory — in which Camilla was cast as something between a tweedy Cruella de Vil and…

There are times when even the most committed of rakes and the most dedicated of dandies wake in the morning and cannot face dressing up. Let’s hope King Charles isn’t overcome with sartorial ennui when he rises from the regal bed on the morning of May 6, the day Britain will surely show the world the true meaning of pomp and circumstance. Our parliament may be feeble, our borders may be porous, and our health service may be ailing, but when it comes to pageantry and tradition, nobody does it better than the (not always) United Kingdom. As the focus of the event, the King will be expected to push the boat out in the costumes and regalia department, even if he has pledged to make his coronation a more…

To the serial victim of amorous bastardry, he’s the elusive, dashing and trustworthy suitor who must exist but refuses to come into her life and restore her faith in mankind. To those who grew up in the New Romantics era, he’s a war-painted, chandelier-swinging Regency dandy with a fairy godmother portrayed by Diana Dors.* To those trying to convince their young grandchildren that Disney’s post-war output trumps that of its Pixar era, he’s the barrel-chested, epauletted tritagonist of the 1950 animated film adaptation of Cinderella. In one sense, it is this Disney-fied version — they are, after all, the custodians of modern fairytale lore — that still dominates the Prince Charming archetype. This, despite the iterations in the 1937 adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the 1959 adaptation…