Secret royal meetings, A-list affairs and Kate Moss's biggest birthday bash: inside the Hotel of Kings

In November 1947, all eyes were on London. Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, was set to marry the dashing Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey. The capital was flooded with royals: of the 2,000 guests invited to the ceremony, many were kings, queens, princes and princesses.

At the heart of it all was Claridge’s, the storied Mayfair hotel that had already been dubbed "the annex to Buckingham Palace", thanks to its long-standing reputation for royal hospitality. The story of one diplomat has since gone down in history. Upon calling the hotel, he asked to be connected to the King. "Certainly, sir," came the reply. "But which one?"

There's a reason why Claridge’s is known as the "queen of hotels" and the "hotel of kings". Its reputation was cemented in the 19th century after dispossessed monarchs from revolutionary Europe sought refuge there. Now, its history is being unveiled in a new book by the historian Martin Williams, who, with the help of the hotel's archivist, Kate Hudson, has dug through libraries, letters and books to create a comprehensive retrospective that features everyone from Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother to Kate Moss. 

"There's no greater repository of great stories than a grand hotel," says Martin, who approached the hotel with the idea after finding it "astonishing" that Claridge’s, which opened in its first incarnation in 1812, did not have a book describing its rarefied past. Two and a half years later, it now does.

Telling the real story

The hotel is where Queen Elizabeth II met the Duchess of Windsor for the first time in nearly 30 years, while the Duke was recovering from medical treatment. The visit, which was made via the side door of the hotel, was discreet, Martin says. "Although her relationship with her uncle and aunt would never be more than tepid, the gesture indicated that some sort of reconciliation had taken place." 

Later, David and Elizabeth Emanuel worked on Lady Diana Spencer’s unforgettable wedding dress just seconds from Claridge’s. Following the newlyweds’ departure on honeymoon, the Queen arrived at the hotel’s ballroom for a party hosted by her cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley. As well as almost the entire royal family, the guests included "six kings, eight queens, innumerable princes and princesses, dozens of peers and peeresses, a clutch of ambassadors and one maharajah”, Martin says.

There are fond mentions of the Queen Mother. "I think we can legitimately say that she was the hotel’s most steadfast friend," the historian says, recalling that she finally accepted the Duke of York's proposal following dinner and dancing at the hotel: it was his third attempt.

So tight was the bond that Claridge’s even sent the Queen Mother its recipe for crab and lobster salad following a lunch celebrating the centenary of the new iteration of the hotel in 1998. After she "had tried but failed to describe it to her chef, the recipe was promptly dispatched to Clarence House”.

Its luxurious surrounds and unwavering commitment to discretion have long made Claridge’s an A-list destination, welcoming everyone from Audrey Hepburn, whose life-changing meeting with William Wyler, the director of Roman Holiday, took place at the hotel, to Marlene Dietrich, whose affair with the American actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr did not go unnoticed during her stay. 

"She was quite badly behaved," Kate says. "I love that."

The ultimate birthday bash

In 2004, Kate Moss famously held her 30th birthday party there, with a theme inspired by F Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned, drawing on the art-deco decor for which the hotel is known. The celebrations began with cocktails and Cristal champagne, Kate changing into a vintage gown that she later discovered had been worn by Britt Ekland at the premiere of The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974.

Following a party at the artist Sam Taylor-Wood's house, Kate, who was joined there by Naomi Campbell, Tracey Emin, Grace Jones and Gwyneth Paltrow, returned to Claridge’s, where it's said that at one point she sang George Gershwin’s Summertime, accompanied on the piano by Jools Holland. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, digging out the details proved tricky for Martin. "There's a huge amount of hearsay, and all sorts of different accounts," he says. 

"There are members of staff who are still here, who were here then, and I know that none of them will go on the record about what happened," Kate says. "We wouldn't dream of doing it. I mean, trust me, there are some great stories."

Such tales show how the hotel has played its part in history. Martin cites a story about the playwright Clare Boothe Luce, who was visiting from the US in 1940. "She's in the restaurant at Claridge’s at lunchtime on the day the Dunkirk evacuation finishes. You can imagine the scene, with all of the women in their beautiful hats and spring dresses, and suddenly in comes a group of officers, stained with saltwater and sand and sweat, straight from the beach of Dunkirk, [who have] come straight to Claridge’s for lunch,” he says.

"Claridge's is a stage on which so many incredible stories have played out," Martin adds. "I tried to capture as many as I could."

Claridge’s: Queen of Hotels, Hotel of Kings by Martin Williams is out now, published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £35

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