\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx135\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 \b \cf4 \ATXht13211000 George IV\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 was not a man to indulge the senses w
ith any degree of moderation. When it came to dining, in 1816-17 he secured the services of the renowned French chef Marie-Antoine CarΩme, who devised elaborate menus with as many as sixty dishes. Hardly surprisingly, the Banqueting Room was one of the
PavilionÆs most magnificent interiors. The walls were hung with large canvases painted with Chinese domestic scenes, and beneath the shallow central dome there hung a 10-metre-long chandelier weighing a ton, held in the claws of a silvered dragon suspe
nded from the apex of the ceiling. By the same token, guests were also proudly escorted to inspect the Great Kitchen. It was erected in 1816, fitted out in 1817-18 and featured four cast iron columns with painted copper palm leaves supporting the high
ceiling. Copper awnings were designed to draw off excess heat and smells from the cooking range beneath. On the south wall stood a kitchen fire with a device for mechanically turning a spit. Five spits could be operated simultaneously.
