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Auction: 20003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 262

The very fine Royal Household R.V.M. group of eight awarded to Chef G. ‘Chummy’ Tschumi, who worked as a Chef for four successive Monarchs in the Royal Household which saw him undertake all manner of culinary challenges and overseas voyages with the Royal Family, besides preparing the Wedding Breakfast for the Duke of York (later King George VI) and Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and afterwards Queen Mary’s Chef at Marlborough House; these escapades and many more amusing 'trifles' - besides taking betting tips from the Aga Khan - are covered in his excellent memoir Royal Chef - Forty Years with Royal Households

Royal Household Faithful Service Medal, G.V.R., suspension dated ‘1910-1930’ (G. Tschumi); Royal Victorian Medal, Silver, G.V.R.; Coronation 1902, bronze; Coronation 1911; Portugal, Coronation Medal of Carlos I, silver; Spain, Order of Military Merit, 5th class, silver; Russia, Medal for Zeal, Nicholas II, silver; Italy, Royal Service Medal, Victor Emanuelle III, silver, mounted court-style, good very fine (8)

Ex-Tamplin Collection, 2008.

R.V.M. London Gazette 3 June 1932.

Gabriel Tschumi was born in about 1883, in Moudon, Switzerland, where his father, a professor of languages, killed in an accident only three days after his birth. At the age of 16 in 1899, he was appointed an apprentice in the kitchens of the Royal Household through the good offices of his cousin, Miss Louise Tschumi, one of Queen Victoria’s Dressers. Working under the watchful eye of the famous French Royal Chef M. Menager. His first trip overseas came with King Edward VII in 1901 to Flushing for the funeral of the Empress of Germany and then on the convalescence voyage around the British Isles on the Victoria and Albert. The first story of some humour came after the postponement of the Coronation of King Edward VII, which left them facing a mountain of food for two hundred and fifty guests:

'...There was also the difficulty of storing all the jellies, which could not remain in the dishes which were filled to overflowing...Finally the Clerk of the Kitchens redeemed himself in everyone's eyes by coming up with a solution. The jellies could be melted down and stored in magnum champagne bottles until such a time as the coronation banquet took place. We spent the next few hours carrying out this course of action, and eventually there were two hundred and fifty champagne bottles of claret and liqueur jelly ranged along the wall in one corner of the kitchens.'

The remainder, being mountains of caviar, 2,500 quails, chicken, partridge, sturgeon and cutlets for the 7 course banquet was mainly distributed to the Sisters of the Poor in hampers and taken home to the families of the Royal Household. He was successively promoted 2nd Assistant Cook in 1905, Assistant Cook in 1906 and 6th Chief Cook in 1911, when he travelled to India aboard the Medina as the Senior Chef for the Coronation Durbars.

On the reaction to the Great War:

'Few members of the public realised how seriously King George and Queen Mary took rationing during the 1914-18 War, for though they had widely differing tastes in food they were completely in agreement on the need to cut out everything that might smack of luxury or privelege in the Royal Household life during that period. All racing and yachting was cut out, and entertaining was restricted only to guests directly connected with the running of the war. Another order came down soon after the outbreak of war, which threw our depleted kitchen staff into a mild panic. It too came from Queen Mary and was to the effect that meat was to be served no more than three times a week both to the Royal Family and the Household staff of several hundred.'

Tschumi was also called upon to travel with the King to France in October 1915, when he set up in the Chateau de la Jusnelle near Aire for visits to the Western Front. A staff of eight travelled, with just two cooks to provide the required refreshments during the visit. The visit also gave Tschumi an opportunity to dust off the 'hot box' for cooking on the move, which had been built for the shooting parties King Edward VII held, with space to store food for a party of 30-40!

Tschumi was promoted 5th Chief Cook 1918-19. When he received his Long and Faithful Service Medal in 1930, he was 3rd Chef. Members of the Royal family apparently insisted on calling him ‘Chummy’.

Tschumi retired on 1 July 1932, then working for the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, as Chef from 1 July 1933. Here, he and his wife had pleasant quarters; Mrs Tschumi’s father had been Head Keeper at Windsor Great Park under Queen Victoria, and had completed almost 50 years’ service. He stayed with the Duke of Portland until the Duke’s death in 1943, but he still helped the new Duke and Duchess, and the Dowager Duchess, for 5 or 6 months of each year. In August 1946 he was asked to assist for six weeks at Sandringham in Queen Mary’s Household; and in October 1947 he was invited to become Chef to Queen Mary at Marlborough House, which he did formally from January 1948 until October 1952, when he retired from ill health. In the first few months of his employment at Marlborough House, a box of mangoes brought more than fruit for Queen Mary and her staff:

'Every June the Aga Khan sent Queen Mary a box of mangoes, and some of them were served as dessert, some given to friends and the rest made into mango jelly...these came down to the kitchens with a card attached bore the two words "My Love". It was only a few days before the Derby and you didn't have to be a student of the turf to know what it in this particular Derby the Aga Khan had a horse called "My Love". While we were unpacking the mangoes this particular year there was a lot of speculation at Marlborough House. Did the Aga Khan intend it as a tip? Was it a sufficiently safe bet for all of us to speculate prett heavily on the 1948 Derby.'

It sure was, for My Love romped home at 11/1 from the largest field (30 runners) seen at the Derby since 1862. Tschumi and his colleagues each retained a mango stone which they carved 'My Love, 8/6/48' to remember the day!

He went to live in Wimbledon and wrote his memoirs in 1954. Gabriel ‘Chummy’ Tschumi died on 27 April 1957; sold together with copied research and a copy of his memoirs.

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Sold for
£1,000

Starting price
£850