I’m guessing probably not.
But does anyone in the Royal Family just invite British citizens over to chomp down a cheeseburger? It would seem like good public relations to do it every once in a while. I’m pretty sure a food fight wouldn’t break out.
She most certainly does, with some frequency, I’d guess. Though I personally have not dined with her (although I’ve met her), I know two “ordinary people” who have, including my fiancee. On both occassions, these friends were invited to a luncheon with the Queen, and I don’t recall either of them knowing a specific reason why they were chosen. I don’t know if any “ordinaries” get to eat dinner with her.
And you just know she’d ‘dine’, even if everyone else at the table was ‘eating’. 
Note for the perplexed: this is an excellent example of how English has many pairs of words that mean roughly the same thing, but one is ultimately derived from Latin, while the other is Germanic in origin. The Latin-derived word usually has more upper-class/non-slummy connotations.
Mrs. RickJay had lunch with the Queen. As I am fond of pointing out, Her Majesty puts her elbows on the table. And if she can do it, so can I.
So Don Roberto and RickJay, these lunches your friends had with the Queen: Just Her Majesty in a house coat puttering around the kitchen with a couple of commoners? Or a thousand of her closest friends in a room the size of a football field, and Her Majesty on a dias half a mile away?
Queen Elizabeth visits Australia, of which she is also the monarch, every few years and she hosts luncheons for “ordinary citizens”. An acquaintance of mine, who does a lot of charitable work, was invited to one several years ago at Government House in Canberra. She told me that there were about 40 guests and that the Queen chatted to each guest at some stage.
<hijack>Because the Latin comes via the French (ie. the Normans), which was the language of the ruling class. The Germanic comes from the Saxon- the ruled classes.<hijack>
Very interesting hijack. Thanx
RickJay, that’s hysterical! Somehow, somewhere, I’ll have to use it.
That Latin/Germanic thing almost gives English a double vocabulary in some areas. And speaking of that ruling class… Queen Elizabeth is IT.
For the most part, she doesn’t choose who eats at her table, at least at official and semi-official events. Most of the Queen’s lunches and dinners are official or semi-official. There are often regular everyday people at her table during official meals, because they’re chosen by whoever in the government arranged the meal.
Back in the 50s, the Queen and Prince Philip would sometimes sneak off and go to see a movie or grab a quick sandwich in a Lyons just to get away from things. Nobody ever recognized them. (For all the complaining that the Royals are “just a bunch of Germans”, the Queen looks very much like any other Englishwoman. She should - the English are a bunch of Germans themselves.)
The government doesn’t let the Queen get away with that any more. There have been too many death threats from credible sources for her to be able to go in public as a private person. Nowadays, before a royal goes anywhere, even a friend’s home, the various security organizations have to give the place a careful going-over. Recently, Special Forces had the brilliant idea of stationing rifle-toting soldiers in her private garden. Her comment when she barged into one - “Take that bloody rifle and get it the hell out of here!!!”
Then again, her time is not her own. She more or less does what she is expected and supposed to do - which turns out to be an awful lot compared to most of us, and an enormous amount compared to the rest of her family (save Princess Anne). I wouldn’t be liking 14-hour-days 6 days a week if I were 77 and had bad arthritis.
You know, that’s sad. It reminds me of how Harry Truman used to sneak out of the White House and just walk around DC alone when he needed to “just think”. I can’t imagine the Queen or President doing that now. We accuse our leaders of being “out of touch”, yet thanks to terrorists and other assorted nutcases, we can’t allow them to “just be one of us”. People ridiculed George Bush Sr. for not knowing what a grocery scanner was, yet I can’t imagine the POTUS doing the grocery shopping for the White House. Can you?
Anyway, I remember watching a documentary about QE2 and she talked about how she snuck out of Bukcingham Palace on VE Day and just “hung out” with the crowd outside the palace. In her eyes, it looked like one of her fondest memories. Poor Elizabeth - she’s had it rough keeping the Windors (and the monarchy itself) together. Sometimes I think she’s the most sane Royal of them all.
Bill Clinton used to hobnob with regular folks on his morning jogs, IIRC. Does that count?
Still waiting for an answer to commasense’s question, myself.
Right, but he had a Secret Service detail with him, no? I seem to remember a couple of guys with the earpiece jogging with him.
Yeah, me too.
From Cunctator’s post: She told me that there were about 40 guests and that the Queen chatted to each guest at some stage.
Define ‘ordinary folks’.
As Don Roberto, RickJay, Cunctator and watsondog have said, there are plenty of occasions on which she entertains. These range from small lunch parties to full-scale state banquets. It’s pretty much the sort of entertaining most heads of state feel obliged to undertake. You might as well ask whether George Bush or Jacques Chirac ever dine with ordinary folks.
But the point is that she doesn’t pick the guests at random; everyone will have been invited for a reason, even if some of the guests may not be sure why they were picked. Moreover, the smaller the occasion, the more likely it is that the Palace will play safe and invite people who can be trusted to behave themselves. But it doesn’t take a genius to work out that inviting people who have never been before is much more effective PR - guests who attend only once can still be boasting about it years later no less that the repeat guests.
In 1999 she took tea with the tenant of a Glasgow council house. No one ever pretended that this was anything other than a publicity stunt.
QE2 is a ship, not a person.
Considering the recent behaviour of the royals, I wouldn’t be surprized if there were food fights when they dine with each other.
I danced with a girl who danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the son of the prince of wales* if that counts.
*Cookie to anyone who gets this reference
I served at a royal meal - the Queen visited Manchester Fire Brigade’s HQ and had lunch with them. I was on the preferential list of the catering service.
Basically, it was the same as any meal, except that the top table had four people serving them. I’ve no idea who the diners at that table were, but I presume they were the top brass in the Brigade, plus their other halves.
Prince Philip was delegated to Table One, where he was able to share racist jokes with the proles. Allegedly.
FWIW, the specifications which arrived several days early required a gin & tonic ready on the table for her majesty, and a can of Boddingtons for Philip.