Queen Victoria?
Posted by ElaineL on December 20, 1997 at 22:44:40:
In response to When's "tea" time? (nfm), written by May on December 18, 1997 at 22:05:15
I've got to start a file of trivia. It's embarrassing how feeble my memory has become.
I think it was actuall Queen Victoria who popularized having tea around 4 o'clock. (Please, Britons, help me on the time.)
She apparently would grow weak from lack of food since breakfast, so started having tea with scones or cakes to tide her over to the fashionably late dinner.
I believe low tea was regular tea with maybe scones or some other light fare. "High" tea meant more of a laborer's tea, eaten on a "high table" like American's TV trays with heavier fare, more that of a meal.
I think in Regency times, people might have had tea during the day, and especially with company, but it was not the set time like it eventually became.
Any better informed than I who wish to correct this? Please do! EL
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
