About

Our history and recent events

For the most recent event, a London summer gathering, we were privileged to be hosted by Canon Paul Wright LVO, Sub-Dean, for a service of Mattins at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace. A luncheon followed at the East India Club.

A service of Evensong and dinner were held in January 2024 to commemorate the 375th anniversary of Charles I, King and Martyr, at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. We were delighted that the Very Revd Dr Andrew Braddock, formerly the Serjeant-at-Arms of the Cambridge Monarchists in the early 1990s, and now the 40th Dean of Norwich, returned to Cambridge to lead and preach at Evensong. After dinner, Dr David Smith, Fellow in History at Selwyn College and a specialist in 17th-century English history, gave a talk about the final days of the life of King Charles I.

In April 2023, a Coronation Dinner held at the East India Club, St James’s Square, London. Our guest speaker, Dr David Starkey CBE, spoke about the history of British coronations, from King Edgar to the present day.

A dinner was held at the Old Hall, Queens’ College, Cambridge in October 2022, postponed from 2020 because of the pandemic. This event commemorated the exemplary life and service of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as well as marking the Accession of King Charles III to the throne. The dinner was preceded by a service of Evensong in the chapel of Christ’s College. After dinner, a talk was given about the history and royal connections of Queens’ College.

A dinner was held at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London in June 2022 to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Following a gap owing to the pandemic, a dinner was held at the Royal Air Force Club, Piccadilly, London in October 2021 in memory of His late Royal Highness the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge for 35 years.

A dinner was held at Churchill College, Cambridge in May 2019 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Queen Victoria.

A dinner was held at Westminster College, Cambridge in June 2018 to mark the 65th anniversary of HM The Queen’s coronation. Paul Jagger, author of The City of London Freeman’s Guide, spoke after dinner.  

A dinner was held at the Athenaeum Club, London in November 2017 to mark the Platinum Wedding Anniversary of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. It was a privilege to have as guest speakers Sir Ken Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, and Peter O’Donoghue Esq., York Herald of Arms.

A “Floreat Domus” dinner was held at Selwyn College, Cambridge in February 2017. The event marked the centenary of the House of Windsor and Her Majesty the Queen’s Sapphire Jubilee. Dr David Smith, Director of Studies in History at the college, spoke after dinner.

A dinner was held at Magdalene College, Cambridge (by kind permission of the Master, the Baron Williams of Oystermouth) in April 2016 to mark the 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen. In this, the only college hall in Cambridge to be lit entirely by candlelight, David Broomfield (Membership Secretary of the Cambridge Heraldic and Genealogical Society) spoke after dinner about the college’s history, heraldry and royal connections.

Earlier dinners included the following ones:

• October 2015, Oxford and Cambridge Club, London, to mark HM The Queen becoming the longest-reigning monarch in our nation’s history.
  
• January 2015, Old Hall, Queens’ College, Cambridge.
  
• February 2014, Jesus College, Cambridge, for the birth of Prince George of Cambridge.
  
• February 2013, Selwyn College, Cambridge, for the 60th Anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation. 
  
• February 2012, Downing College, Cambridge, for HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Going back further in time, following several dormant years in the 1980s, the Society was revived in the early 1990s by Cameron Pyke, who hosted some fine banquets in his college, Sidney Sussex, with one featuring as many as ten courses. Other banquets held in the 1990s included a Bonfire Night feast with the late Right Honourable Lord St John of Fawsley as guest speaker (this country’s most famous authority on the present Monarchy); a dinner to mark the coronation of Mary I; and a dinner to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the martyrdom of King Charles I. 

Then, in 2002, a dinner was held to mark the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen.

Our founder

The Society was founded in 1971 by the late and much-lamented Reverend Canon James Owen, formerly Vicar of Little St Mary’s Church, Cambridge, and an ardent monarchist. It was he who lovingly compiled the “Monarchist Songsheet”, a collection of patriotic songs, from which diners customarily sing a selection following each dinner.

Support for charities

Each dinner supports a nominated charity. 

The following donations were given: 

• July 2024 luncheon: £100 to Cancer Research UK.
  
• January 2024 dinner: £100 to the Royal Countryside Fund.
  
• April 2023 dinner: £250 to the Prince’s Trust.
  
• October 2022 dinner: £250 to support Queen Mother’s Clothing Guild, to provide charities with clothing and bedding they need, to provide warmth and comfort to those in need, and helping to restore dignity and self-respect.
  
• June 2022 dinner: £250 to support SSAFA, the Armed Forces’ charity.
  
• October 2021 dinner: £200 to support LEPRA, a UK-based charity with an international mission to beat leprosy.
  
• May 2019 dinner: £250 to Dr Gordon Wright Fund, to support medical students at Cambridge.
  
• June 2018 dinner: £250 to “Heads Together” mental health campaign (The Royal Foundation).
  
• November 2017 dinner: £300 to Royal Star and Garter Homes.
  
• February 2017 dinner: £300 to St Gregory’s Foundation. 
  
• April 2016 dinner: £300 to Royal British Legion.
  
• January 2015 dinner: £200 to Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
  
• 2014 dinner: £300 to The Wessex Youth Trust – The Charity of Their Royal Highnesses The Earl and Countess of Wessex. 
  
• 2013 dinner: £300 to The Royal Foundation.
  
• 2012 dinner: £300 to Help for Heroes.

Letter of thanks from Royal Countryside Fund following January 2024 donation

Sapphire Jubilee message from Buckingham Palace

Letter of thanks from Royal British Legion following 2016 donation