Dining across the divide: ‘I think the threshold should be lower’

Anna, a single parent in her 40s, said the evening felt easy and natural and that she hadn’t had such a good meal in a long time. She loved the squid, the Cornish market fish on beans and the Eton mess paired with a dessert wine, and they shared a cheese board.

JJ, 19, praised his asparagus starter, prosecco-battered fish with triple-cooked chips and crushed peas, and the matcha chocolate crèmeux for dessert. They agreed King Charles seems to be doing a good job, but Anna warned that this doesn’t make the system itself acceptable.

She, originally from Germany, said the lesson of the past is not to centre institutional continuity around particular individuals and that Trump exposes the risks the monarchy must withstand; JJ said he would hate the idea of a President Blair or President Truss, recalled the togetherness of a diamond jubilee street party and liked the soft diplomacy he feels the king can exercise.

Germany

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