Royal Recipes: history lessons and lavish dishes with Michael Buerk

The royal wedding is here - cue either sighs of relief or squeals of excitement. As with any public celebration, the food & drink sector has gone full throttle, helping consumers celebrate the big day with lavish themed buffets, featuring royal wedding cake replicas and even celebratory sausages.

Those eagerly snapping up these products will have been delighted this week at the insight offered by Royal Recipes (BBC1, 14 May, 3.45pm). In the first of the series, with all five episodes airing throughout the week, Michael Buerk blended history lessons with decadent meals (something I would have appreciated in my school days) focusing on the courtships of royal couples.

Chef Anna Haugh recreated three dishes, the first a venison pie inspired by Henry VIII’s courtship of Anne Boleyn, during which he sent her a deer killed by his own hands along with a love letter. (So much more romantic than Tinder.) It was a real meat lover’s pie too, with pastry made with lard, an ingredient the experts insisted was coming back into fashion.

Despite the title though, only half of the show was set in the kitchen. Out and about we saw Anna create a not-so-simple sundae as well as a traditional seswaa from Botswana - Meghan and Harry apparently both have strong ties to the country. We also got to see chef Paul Ainsworth attempting to play polo.

The recipes might have only been loosely connected to the historical storytelling alongside them, but with many Brits in full royal fervour, there’s no doubt this week-long series will have gone down a treat.