Like many a glamorous social gathering earlier than it, Tanya’s night soirée was held at the River Cafe which, now in its third decade, is the social set’s restaurant of alternative – any night of the week. For regulars on the London scene, one of the hardest issues about lockdown was not accessing Ruthie Rogers’ elegant menus. Dame Judi Dench made her post-Covid debut at the superstar hang-out with a lunchtime reservation (reportedly feasting on langoustines washed down with a magnum of champagne, in the firm of fellow food-lover, Stanley Tucci).
Getting a desk right here has at all times been a hard-won feat – typically many months in the making (and at erratic occasions, both perilously early or extraordinarily late). The restaurant has welcomed many a well-known face via its unassuming doorways, together with Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Lineker, Linda Evangelista and Ralph Fiennes. Indeed, Rogers has hosted most of them on her podcast in addition to at her desk: Elton John, Zoe Saldaña and Victoria Beckham have all reminisced on air about about household suppers and first dates.
That’s to not say that Edward and Sophie are averse to celebrations, nonetheless: a few weeks in the past, the couple attended the conventional Easter Sunday church service at St George’s Chapel with the relaxation of the royals, and it is doubtless they loved a relaxed break with the complete household at Windsor. The earlier month, the couple marked Edward’s 61st birthday in low-key fashion with a ‘cosy dinner’ at house – a change in tone from 2024’s ebullient festivities.
