Hand-painted sugar hibiscus flowers for pudding, candelabras shaped like serpent-entwined apple trees (and a secret wood-encased electric heater to keep Their Majesties warm!) An exquisite peek behind the scenes of the latest Palace banquet...

From the towering displays of seasonal flowers to the silver-gilt Grand Service that dates back to King George IV, all the familiar touches that make a Buckingham Palace State Banquet were there for the state visit of the South Korean president on Tuesday night.

But there’s a gentle wind of change blowing through the new king’s royal residence - and every now and again you could spot the subtle signs of the new Carolean regime.

The cascading ferns taken from the glasshouses at Windsor that stood next to the more traditional floral arrangements will naturally, given His Majesty’s eco-credentials, be re-potted and used again.

Even the crystal glasses and china on the ‘top table’ had been discreetly scrubbed of the EIIR cypher they have boasted for the last 70 years and replaced with the CIIIR of her son.

The royal etchers hadn’t had time to change them all, however (not unsurprisingly given the Herculean task of tackling the royal china cupboard). 

If you looked closely you could actually see the odd Elizabethan-era model slotted in lower down the seating arrangement.

As a royal correspondent of many years standing, I was lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of the state banquet table after Their Majesties had inspected it, but before the 171 guests arrived, on Tuesday night.

No photographs are allowed, sadly, but it does give me - and of course Daily Mail readers - an unprecedented insight into what makes one of these occasions so special and why the government are so keen to use the Royal Family and their unique brand of soft diplomacy as part of their global charm offensive.

Indeed, by the time President Yoon Suk Yoel stood to his feet to address the VIP diners and offer a toast, he was so bowled over that he effusively paid tribute to the king’s ’kind preparations and the warmth of your hospitality’ and the ‘renewed vigour’ and ‘splendid leadership’ of his reign, concluding in perfect English: ‘To me, fair friend, the United Kingdom, you can never be old.’

No wonder Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - who is set to sign a new partnership with Korea this week - was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Preparations had been going on in the palace Ballroom for days. Indeed I spotted staff slotting together the parts that make up the familiar u-shaped table at another event last week.

Deep inside the bowels of the palace late on Tuesday afternoon, an army of liveried footmen and women, some without their neckties done up quite yet, were running around making last-minute tweaks.

In the kitchen chefs were hand-making and painting exquisitely delicate sugar Hibiscus Syriacus, the national flower of South Korea, which were to be presented later along with the after-dinner petit fours.

It’s this attention to detail that makes Buckingham Palace one of the most impressive hosts I’ve ever seen in my years of royal travel around the world.

Others were queuing up in the canteen (posh, but not as posh as you might think!), the smell of what seemed to be gravy and mash mingling with that of the tartlet of poached egg and spinach puree and breast of Windsor pheasant that was being prepared for the banquet guests.

Under the twinkling lights of the chandeliers, the Ballroom table was groaning with the weight of the Grand Service - there are 4,000 pieces in all - made from silver overlaid with gold.

It was commissioned by George IV when Prince of Wales from royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, in 1811 and cost £60,000 even then.

Laid out under the watchful eye of the Yeoman of the Plate Pantry, it includes 14 tureens, 288 dinner plates, 118 'salts' or salt cellars, 12 ice pails, 12 mirrored plateaux, 58 desert stands and 107 candelabra.

Each place setting was laid with a napkin folded into a ‘Dutch-bonnet style’, a side plate, two knives, two forks, a dessert spoon and fork, and a butter knife.

Guests are also given six glasses: a champagne toasting glass, one for water, two for wine, another for the dessert course and a port glass.

More than 2,000 pieces of cutlery are needed to serve and eat the banquet, all drawn from the Grand Service, include other far from common or garden utensils such as ice spades and olive spoons.

The place settings were also dotted with cruets for condiments and mustard, silver gilt and cast in the form of a nautilus shell supported by a triton on an oval cast with waves which cost George VI £902 12 s, according to the palace records.

Other salts were shaped like bowls with Egyptian masks (a fashionable feature at the time) with three lion paw feet.

Up and down the table were giant six-light, silver-gilt candelabrum knows as ‘The Apples of Hesperides Candelabrum’.

Cast as an apple tree encircled by a serpent which eats from a bowl held up by the three daughters of Erebus and Night, they also feature three seated figures playing musical instruments and truly spectacular in their detail.

The fresh flowers, arranged in vast centrepieces from the Grand Service depicting figures of Pan playing a pipe, were a riot of red, purple and blue.

Always seasonal, even in the late Queen’s reign, blooms are mostly grown at Windsor Home Park and in the Orchid Garden at the glasshouses in Windsor.

In another sign of the new reign, Queen Camilla has thoughtfully asked for any flowers used at the palace for entertaining to be donated to one of her charities, Floral Angels, who break them down into posies to be delivered to hospices, care homes and shelters across London.

Other eye-catching items waiting to be laid on the table later included the turquoise Minton pudding course service, made in 1877 for Queen Victoria and distinctively hand-painted with flowers.

The Rockingham Dessert Service was also in use, commissioned by William IV in 1830, and said to be the most extravagant china service ever produced by and English factory, as well as the Tournai, bought by King George IV.

On the top table - where the King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales, President and First Lady, and other senior dignitaries sat - there were bowls overflowing with ripe figs and small glass vials of organic olive oil.

And discreetly stationed behind the King and Queen’s seats was an elegant wooden-encased heater.

Well, it does get a little cold at the palace in winter and the king is partial to having the heating turned down a degree or two to save on costs.

The seating plan for a state banquet is always fascinating, and Tuesday’s event was no exceptions: politicians and courtiers seated next to K-pop stars, authors and academics and the new Lady Cameron next to the Lord Chamberlain.

At the start of the banquet, as per tradition, the King as host gave the first speech and toast, his address littered with references Korean culture including an allusion to his his own lack of ‘Gangnam style’.

In a sweet moment, Jisoo of the global K-pop superstars Blackpink, could be seen whipping her head round in shock when His Majesty mentioned the name of her band - showing that even singing superstars are still impressed by British royalty.

By all accounts the entire group were fairly terrified about the etiquette involved in such a grand state occasion, but thoroughly enjoyed their palatial night out.

The evening ended, as it normally does, surprising early given that guests would not have started eating until the speeches finished, just before 9pm.

Around 10pm attendees were invited to leave the table to mingle in the State Rooms and listen a performance by a small ensemble from the Philharmonia Orchestra playing March from The Birds by Parry, Elgar’s Chanson de Matin and Fantasy on Arirang, based on a Korean folk song.

One regular attendee of state banquets told me this week that there was always an ‘electric ambience, locally-sourced food and amazing table presentation with an astonishing attention to detail’.

‘It’s a lovely touch that Their Majesties went to check the table before their guests arrived just like her late Majesty used to. She would never miss a thing!’ they added.

And the downsides?

‘The cutlery can get a little confusing and as soon as the royals and guests of honour are finished eating, everyone’s plates start getting removed…whether you have finished or not!’