The grand Banqueting Hall of Saint George was illuminated by sixteen monumental crystal chandeliers, each holding ninety candles of white beeswax that dripped into gilded sconces. The air was filled with the soaring, magnificent melodies of Vivaldi’s *Four Seasons*, performed by thirty musicians of the Imperial Chamber Orchestra seated in the carved timber minstrels' gallery above the dais. Two hundred guests filled the long banquet tables, their conversations animated by…
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