The King and Queen Consort will formally open York’s new restaurant next month.
They will declare the York Minster Refectory officially open on Thursday, 6 April, as part of their visit to York for the Royal Maundy Service.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will tour the Refectory restaurant and its grounds with the King unveiling a plaque celebrating the visit and the opening.
“It is an absolutely unbelievable honour to have the King and the Queen Consort here to open the York Minster Refectory,” said Mike Green, a lead partner in the business.
“You hope sometimes in your life that certain things happen – and this is one of them. What an honour.
“When we realised Their Majesties were visiting, we just knew that we had to pull out all the stops to make it happen and to ensure that we had the restaurant and our grounds ready for April 6th.”
Fellow partner and restaurateur, Andrew Pern, said: “Mike and I are passionate supporters of the royal family.”
He said the royal event “will undoubtedly go down as one of the highlights of my career.”
The Refectory is being created inside the Minster School, which closed after centuries of operating when the cathedral suffered a huge loss of income as a result of the Covid pandemic.
The King is in York to hand out Maundy money for the first time as a monarch. The ancient ceremony takes place in the Minster this year.
He will present 74 men and 74 women with specially-minted silver coins to the value of 74p – signifying Charles’s age – to thank the pensioners for their service in local communities.
This year will be the first Maundy service since the death of Elizabeth II in September and the start of the Carolean age.
Recipients, who are being thanked for their outstanding Christian service, each receive two purses: one red and one white, with the white one containing the silver Maundy coins.
The red purse will contain two commemorative coins, symbolising the sovereign’s historic gift of food and clothing.
This year the coins will celebrate the King’s forthcoming 75th birthday and the 75th anniversary of the Windrush Generation.
Charles and Camilla were last in York in November when they unveiled a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
A protester threw eggs at the royal couple when they arrived, but they missed.
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]