All for Tea with the Queen

or Andrew Morton, his most memorable and enjoyable teatimes took place at the stately National Trust homes of England’s West Country that he would often visit on weekends while working as a trainee journalist in Plymouth. Strolls around the beautiful grounds of the regal estates would culminate in what he calls “splendid and sumptuous” afternoon teas, often featuring scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream, which he confesses, are his favorite treat. “Because the clotted cream was local, it would still be quite nutty and, Andrew chuckles when asked how he feels about that moniker. “It’s nice to be called the king of something,” he says, adding that he does “drink tea religiously” and that it’s always English Breakfast but admitting that the type of tea referenced in that title really has nothing to do with the leaves of the plant and everything to do with, as Urban Dictionary puts it, “the best kind of gossip.”