The coronation of Carlos III in the UK already has menu for its celebration and it does not contain the famous windsor soup that has permeated so much in English society throughout history. This tasty first course has been the culinary desire of many people over the years and it is well known to the English that much is consumed for the upper class, specifically by royalty. However, this seems to be a myth deeply rooted in the consciousness of British society, as indicated in the book ‘Lost Food in England’, by the famous culinary historian Glyn Hughes.

Windsor soup has been referred to by multitudes of cookbooks, television programs and professional chefs as a historical dish and part of the popular consciousness of the English. It is a hot starter made with meat and to which are added some vegetables that It has been, it is said, the popular choice of many Kings and Queens of England. However, it seems that this relationship between soup and the British Royal Family is more of invention than reality.

Hughes states in his book that the Windsor aopa it has never been the favorite first course of monarchs, but it is nothing more than a myth. ensures that this dish is not even mentioned in the most notable cookbooks in England, like the ‘Modern Cookery for Private Families’ or the work ‘The Book of House Management’ by Isabela Beeton, and it is not found in any fiction or encyclopedia of its time either.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, has caused more controversy in this project than knowing the exact origins of Windsor soup,” Hughes wrote in his work on typical English dishes, according to the British BBC. The historian argues that this soup has no aristocratic pedigree. The supposed heyday of that soup that was believed to be cooked with Madeira wine (Portugal) and Andalusian quality steak cuts probably never existed. What’s more, Windsor soup is, in the words of Hughes, a gastronomic invention closer to our time than to the Victorian. Its popularity exploded thanks to the references that were made of it in programs of tv and movies, to ridicule the classism of English royalty, according to the aforementioned chain.

And then… why is it called Windsor soup?

According to the banquet menu of Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 there was no such thing as Windsor soup. On the other hand, there were other much more exotic soups, such as turtle or pheasant meatballs. For this reason, according to the gastronomic historian Marc Meltonville, “Soup Windsor has nothing to do with royalty.”

Most of the consommés named as Windsor —which is the official name of the Royal House of the United Kingdom— at this time they were soups of a light color and not so dark like the one that currently receives this name. Soups that have been Windsor (not only because of the name, but also because they are part of the royal menus) were, for example, the preparations of Henderson William Brand, George IV’s chef, or Charles Elmé Francatelli, head chef of Queen Victoria, who added to their culinary creations the surname “à la Windsor”.

The historian Hughes he found a dark soup bearing this name, Windsor soup, in 1920, on a cafeteria menu in the north of England, and also a series of canned Windsor soups two decades later. However, he explains that this soup has never had historical relevance and that if it has acquired it, it has been more because of modern culture than because of its relationship with royalty.

The popularity of Windsor soup that we know today It didn’t come until 1950. as explained in the book ‘Foods of England’: it was born as a mockery and not so much for a culinary purpose. Also, “all the stories about this soup are a complete hoax,” Hughes explains. Another theory about his name and relationship with the royal family may come from the ‘Brown Windsor Soap’a personal hygiene utensil used by Queen Victoria and very popular among the population at the time.

The burlesque and popular use of Windsor soup comes from the comedian Spike Milligan, who was one of the first to see the comic potential of the recipe, according to the BBC. On more than one occasion he used this soup as an easy target in ‘The Goon Show‘, a program adored by the young people of the time. Since then Windsor soup has been named for television shows and many movies to this day. Once the term was accepted in British popular culture, there was, according to Hughes, a kind of “mass hallucination” around this soupwith plenty of people talking about personal memories of this recipe that never really took place.