For what may seem like small pieces of paper, the menu cards in the Dining Room in fact create huge visitor interest.
Food is a conversational topic and for younger visitors who may not be so interested in the wonders of the Goya Tapestries, using imaginative thinking and reading the menu cards about what could be on offer if a Member of The Royal Family invited them to dinner, is a very appealing part of the visit through the House. During Queen Elizabeth II reign, House Stewards often had to translate for visitors as traditionally the royal menus were written in French.
Dinner at Sandringham in Victorian times was a very formal affair, often consisting of well over ten courses and at which full evening dress and the wearing of badges of honour and decorations was expected. On one occasion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales, ever the generous hostess, noticed that Benjamin Disraeli had no decorations on his starched shirt and, believing that he might feel awkward, playfully pinned a menu card to his chest and declared that all was well.
This modest piece of card also had a more poignant role to play at Sandringham on the 20th January 1936 when King George V was close to his death. At the time his physician, Lord Dawson picked up a menu card and wrote on the back of it. His word, now considered a moment in history were used as a bulletin broadcast by the BBC at 9.30pm in order to prepare the nation for what was to come just hours later. So the small pieces of paper or menu cards hold the key to moments in history, and are never considered as just a simple piece of paper.