BY JOHN FITZGERALD
In the minds of many affluent travelers (and there are still quite a few of them about), The Ritz London is probably as essential a symbol of that sprawling, dynamic capital as Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge.
With an elegant Edwardian façade and iconic illuminated signs positioned above the entrances to its arcade, the hotel overlooks Green Park, which borders on Kensington Gardens and the gardens of Buckingham Palace where, chances are you will never see the Queen.
Owned by the secretive Barclay brothers, Sir David and Sir Frederick who also own the Telegraph Group, including London’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper, The Ritz’s 136 guestrooms and suites are decorated in variations of Louis XVI style -- gold leaf here and there, restrained good quality furniture and lovely drapes.
The hotel’s lavish Prince of Wales Suite is a penthouse apartment that features a drawing room with original fireplace, a dining room that can accommodate up to 10 for dinner as well as two inter-connected bedrooms and marble bathrooms. The Ritz Butler, wouldn’t you know it is on call, as well.
With draws such as the opulent Palm Court, where the taking of afternoon tea beneath the glittering chandeliers is a London ritual, and Ritz Restaurant with its magnificent frescoed ceiling and tail-coated waiters, The Ritz has been the place to sip, sup, stay and just dilly dally since the hotel opened its doors to the swell set in 1906.
The Ritz London’s founder was the clever and far-sighted Swiss hotelier César Ritz who had made such a splash with the Paris Ritz he created eight years earlier. London’s first steel-framed building, The Ritz cost one million pounds, Ritz describing his new property as “a small house to which I am proud to see my name attached.”
Glamorous heritage hotels don’t garner much of a fuss in a city that counts Claridge’s, The Savoy (due to re-open in 2010 following a 100 million pound renovation) and The Connaught in Carlos Place among the choice places for visitors to hang their hats. But there has always been an allure and sizzle about The Ritz that sets its apart.
The hotel’s place in popular culture has long been unique thanks to references to it in books and articles, plays and films. The urbane and prodigious Noel Coward wrote songs at The Ritz and F. Scott Fitzgerald named one of his most famous novellas: A Diamond As Big as The Ritz. Boozing, hell-raising stage and screen star Tallulah (“Call me Tallulah, darling!”) Bankhead, never shy about publicity, drank champagne from a slipper when she met the press at the hotel one day in 1951. More recently, the movie star character played by Julia Roberts in Notting Hill stays at The Ritz.
No grand hotel of course can lay claim to the title without having had a smidgeon of old-fashioned scandal and The Ritz had that too. Back in the 1920s, a besotted baron, upset at the rejection of his marriage proposal by the daughter of a local copper strangled her at the hotel and dispatched himself in suave style by sticking a sock down his throat. It was silk, of course.
In 1999, it was to The Ritz that Prince Charles escorted his long time lover Camilla Parker Bowles, now Duchess of Cornwall, on their first splashy public outing since the death of Princess Diana. The Queen in 2006 celebrated her 80th birthday party at The Ritz, looking radiant by all accounts in an ankle length blue dress.
Covered by a rich red patterned carpet supplied by London’s exclusive Arundell Carpets, the main floor Long Gallery is one of the hotel’s most dramatic spaces, measuring 30 meters in length. Generations of debutantes, diplomats, celebrities and royalty have tread across it on their way to the elevator, or Ritz restaurant or one or another of the beautiful public rooms.
Among indulgent guess services is a Rolls-Royce Phantom painted ‘Ritz blue’ that’s up for hire to take you to Harvey Nichols, Harrod’s or any of the chic shops on the Chelsea Road or to London airports. The chauffeur, named Winston, was trained by the Rolls-Royce company.
Situated in the hotel’s one-time ballroom on the lower ground floor, The Ritz Club and Casino is a veritable Toyland for the well-to-do, with its gilded rococo décor, including chairs you want to sink into and the requisite heavy, gleaming chandeliers.
Club members and hotel guests gamely try their luck with Punto Banco perhaps or Roulette. When they tire of black jack or three card poker, they can repair to the Art Deco style Rivoli Bar and congratulate or console themselves with a Ritz 100 (a cocktail mix of Champagne, Grand Marnier and one or two other liquids). The Rivoli is absolutely the place to be from 5 p.m.to 7:30 p.m. when it seems like all the London titans are about. Best table for people watching is the one for four persons in front of the bar.
A rite of passage for first time London visitors and recurring ritual for others, afternoon tea in the elegant cream-coloured Palm Court is always popular, whether patrons are coming from Bournemouth or Beirut. A dress code that prohibits the wearing of jeans or sneakers is discreetly but unbendingly enforced in the hotel’s restaurant and bar.
Under the guidance of Executive Chef John Williams, The Ritz Restaurant, a bedazzling room with west facing windows that look out over the terrace and Green Park received the Michelin Guide’s Five Couverts Award in 2008. On the menu are such dishes as Colchester oysters, cepes worked with olive oil, garlic, chives and parsley, roast grouse, and culet of venison. Wait staff, formally attired, sail through the kitchen doors bearing plates heaped with roast pigeon or brill or fillet of beef served with parsnip puree, shallots and fondant potato. At the next table, a woman sipping Sauterne purrs to her husband: “It’s true, my dear. Isn’t life grand?”
For more information, log on to: www.theritzlondon.com