FRANCE: Vive la Reine!

On the eve of a dinner for Louis XIV, according to Mme. de Sévigné, the grand chef de cuisine at the Château Chantilly killed himself rather than face the Sun King without enough fish for his pièce de résistance. Fortunately, no such tragedy marred last week's visit of Britain's Queen Elizabeth to France, although one great cake prepared in her honor collapsed from the heat before she got to it and had to be hurriedly propped up. No one's life was held forfeit, and the first visit of a reigning British queen since...

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