Mr Francatelli

by Susan Flantzer

1. Laura Mabel Francatelli (21 April 1880 - 2 June 1967) was a First Class passenger of the Titanic. She was a secretary to Lady Duff-Gordon. She escaped the sinking in Emergency Lifeboat 1. 1 Biography 2 On the Titanic 3 Later Life and Death 4 Portrayals 4.1 A Night to Remember (1958) 4.2 1997 Film Titanic 4.3 2012 Miniseries Titanic Miss Laura Mabel Francatelli was born in Lambeth, London.
2. Italian Restaurant. Open today until 8:00 PM. View Menu Call 020 3490 5037 Get directions Get Quote WhatsApp 020 3490 5037 Message 020 3490 5037 Contact Us Find Table Make Appointment Place Order. Posted on 06-Dec-2019. Posted on 26-set-2019. Trentinara Breakfast. Posted on 15-set-2019.

Charles Francatelli was the Queen's Head Chef. He first appeared in Doll 123 and we didn't know much about him.

Charles Elmé Francatelli, drawn by Auguste Hervieu and engraved by Samuel Freeman, 1846; Credit – Wikipedia

Read about others who served Queen Victoria at Unofficial Royalty: Queen Victoria’s Inner Circle Index.

A thank you to Colin Smythe who emailed me in 2020 and shared his article on Charles Elmé Francatelli that helped me fill in some missing details.

Charles Elmé Francatelli served as maitre d’hôtel and chief cook in ordinary to Queen Victoria from 1840 – 1842.

Charles Elmé Francatelli was born in 1805 in London, England, the second son of Nicholas Francatelli, the first Francatelli to arrive in England. He was educated in France at the Parisian College of Cooking where he studied culinary arts with Antonin Carême, known as “The King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings.” When Francatelli returned to England, he became chef de cuisine (executive chef) to several members of the nobility. He then became chef de cuisine at the St. James’s Club, popularly known as Crockford’s.

For two years only, from March 9, 1840 to March 31, 1842, Francatelli served as maitre d’hôtel and chief cook in ordinary to Queen Victoria. For some reason, he was dismissed, perhaps because Queen Victoria did not like his French cuisine, and he returned to Crockford’s. Francatelli did have one more royal client. From 1863 – 1865, he served as chef de cuisine to The Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) at their London home, Marlborough House.

During his career, Francatelli was chef de cuisine at the Coventry House Club and the Reform Club. Afterward, he managed the St. James’s Hotel in Piccadilly, London, and finally the Freemasons’ Tavern, a position he held until shortly before his death.

Francatelli was a very successful cookbook author. In 1845, he published The Modern Cook which ran through twelve editions. His next book was The Cook’s Guide and Butler’s Assistant published in 1861. The same year, he published Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes which contained practical information valuable to the less affluent people. In 1862, The Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book was published.

Very little is known about Francatelli’s personal life. He did marry (not to Queen Victoria’s dresser Marianne Skerrett) and have children. His first wife was named Elizabeth (circa 1807-1869, birth surname unknown). They had two children: Ernest (circa1835-1888) and Emily who was born about a year before Ernest.

After his first wife died, the 65-year-old Francatelli married again in 1870 to 25-year-old Elizabeth Cooke. They had a son named after his father, Charles Elmé Francatelli who was born in 1875 and two daughters who died in childhood: Violet (1872-1873), and Bessie (1874-1880).

Charles Elmé Francatelli died in Eastbourne, England on August 10, 1876, at the age of 71, leaving his widow with two young children. His widow Elizabeth Cooke died in 1882, leaving the only surviving child, his father’s namesake, as the guardian of her brother.

Recommended Book – Serving Queen Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard
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Works Cited

• “Charles Elmé Francatelli”. En.Wikipedia.Org, 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Elm%C3%A9_Francatelli. Accessed 27 May 2018.
• “Charles Elmé Francatelli”. It.Wikipedia.Org, 2018, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Elm%C3%A9_Francatelli. Accessed 27 May 2018.
• “Francatelli, Charles Elmé (DNB00) – Wikisource, The Free Online Library”. En.Wikisource.Org, 2018, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Francatelli,_Charles_Elm%C3%A9_(DNB00). Accessed 27 May 2018.
• Oulton, Randal. “Charles Elmé Francatelli”. Cooksinfo.Com, 2018, http://www.cooksinfo.com/charles-elme-francatelli. Accessed 27 May 2018.
• Smythe, Colin, 2014. Charles Elmé Francatelli, Crockford’S, And The Royal Connection – Colin Smythe. [online] Colin Smythe. Available at: <https://colinsmythe.co.uk/charles-elme-francatelli-crockfords-and-the-royal-connection/> [Accessed 4 July 2020].

Ferdinand Kingsley (born 13 February 1988) is an English actor and record producer. He is best known for playing the roles of Hamza Bey in the film Dracula Untold (2014), Mr. Francatelli in the television series Victoria (2016–2019), and Irving Thalberg in the film Mank (2020).

Early life[edit]

Kingsley was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the son of actor Ben Kingsley and theatre director Alison Sutcliffe. His paternal grandfather, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji (1914–1968), was a Kenyan-born medical doctor of Gujarati Indian descent.^[1][2][3] His great-grandfather was an extremely successful spice trader who had moved from India to Zanzibar, where his grandfather lived until moving to England at the age of 14.^[4][5][6] Kingsley's paternal grandmother was English; she was born out of wedlock, and 'would loath to speak of her background'.^[7][8] His other great-grandfather was believed by the family to have been of either German-Jewish or Russian-Jewish descent, while his great-grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of East London.^[9][10]

Kingsley attended Warwick School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.^[11]

Acting career[edit]

Kingsley's theatre credits include Troilus and Cressida, and Little Eyolf for the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[11][12] He played Rosencrantz in the National Theatre's 2010–11 production of Hamlet, for which he received a commendation at the 2010 Ian Charleson Awards, and Phaeax in Welcome to Thebes.^[11][12]

In the film The Last Legion he played Young Ambrosinus in flashbacks to the younger days of the character Ambrosinus, played by his father Ben Kingsley.^[13] He took the part of Albert Aurier in the BBC production Vincent Van Gogh: Painted With Words.^[11][12][14] He plays Bushy in Richard II, which is part of the BBC's Shakespeare season to be aired in Summer 2012.^[12][15]

He played both Jesus and God the Father in the August 2012 production of the York Mystery Plays.^[12][16] In 2013, Kingsley played the part of murdered Jewish anarchist Joshua Bloom in the BBC period crime drama Ripper Street, and filmed prominent roles in Agatha Christie's Poirot: Elephants Can Remember, the BBC feature film The Whale as Obed Hendricks, and Universal Pictures' 2014 feature Dracula Untold as Hamza Bey. In Spring 2013, Kingsley starred in the short film Dance in Colour by The Crookes. In 2016, Kingsley starred in ITV's drama Victoria as Italian British cook Charles Elmé Francatelli.

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Mr Francatelli In Victoria

Television[edit]

Mr Francatelli Chef

References[edit]

1. ^'Ben Kingsley Biography (1943-)'. Filmreference.com.
2. ^Husband, Stuart (24 April 2013). 'Sir Ben Kingsley: 'Without a mask, I haven't got a clue''. The Daily Telegraph.
3. ^'BBC - A History of the World - Object : Sir Ben Kingsley's gold turban'. Bbc.co.uk.
4. ^Bennetts, Leslie. Ben Kingsley’s Journey From Hamlet to Gandhi. New York Times: Best Pictures. 13 December 1982.
5. ^Von Busack, Richard. Sexy Beast. Metroactive movies. March 2005.
6. ^Pathak, Rujul. Ben Kingsley's Chameleon CharactersArchived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Little India.com. 15 June 2005.
7. ^Pfefferman, Naomi. Shoah dramas continue to compel actor Ben Kingsley. L.A. Jewish Journal. 18 May 2001.
8. ^Tugend, Tom. Incidental Intelligence. JewishJournal.com. 13 April 2001.
9. ^Krieger, Hilary Leila (10 April 2005). ''Gandhi' brings his 'truth-force' to Palestinian audiences'. The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2007.: 'The grandmother of the knighted Royal Shakespeare Company alum spoke Yiddish she picked up while a garment worker in London's East End a century ago. 'She was violently opposed to talking about this, so my poor mother was at the receiving end of a rage attack every time my grandmother was asked about her husband, her lover, whoever it was, but it's believed that he was a Russian Jew or a German Jew called Goodman', Kingsley told The Jerusalem Post'.
10. ^Pollack, Joe (3 January 1994). 'He's No Stranger to Holocaust'. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 28 November 2011. I'm not Jewish,' he said, 'and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mother's side, the thread is so fine there's no real evidence...
11. ^ ^abcd'National Theatre'. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
12. ^ ^abcde'Meet God - and Jesus Christ'. Yorkpress.co.uk.
13. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
14. ^'Painted with Words'. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
15. ^'BBC - Cast confirmed for BBC Two's cycle of Shakespeare films - Media Centre'. Bbc.co.uk.
16. ^'Actor to play both God and Jesus'. Bbc.co.uk. 24 May 2012.

External links[edit]

Mr Francatelli Queen Victoria Cook

• Ferdinand Kingsley on IMDb

Mr Francatelli And Miss Skerrett