The Taoiseach was seated next to Queen Elizabeth at last night's dinner in Cardiff Castle, Paul Gillespie reports. It was the third time they have met in recent months. His partner, Ms Celia Larkin, was seated beside the British Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown.
The castle is a piece of fantastic romantic neo-medievalism and neo-classicism built by the Marquess of Bute in the last century with a fortune accumulated from Cardiff's docklands.
Last night's dinner for 75 people departed from summit precedent as an informal occasion, not devoted to a specific agenda. The menu included Welsh salmon and lamb, asparagus, strawberries and cream and a selection of Welsh cheeses. Among the wines was a white Cariad from the 1995 vintage produced by the Llanerch yard in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Cardiff is en fete for the occasion as Wales prepares for devolution and a more focused and coherent European policy to be expressed through it.
