1) Get the invites right

A jokey Facebook event with an ‘ironic’ photo just won’t cut it in royal circles. If she has to go digital, Lady Elizabeth uses high-end e-vite service Paperless Post. Wherever possible, she says to send a physical invite - but keep it simple, classy and elegant. Cheap-looking invites will make guests “imagine there’s going to be acidic wine and miserable food”, but ostentatious glamour is also to be avoided. “Someone wanted me to do ‘save the dates’ with Swarovski crystals costing no less than £2,500 a card, and that’s just vulgarity,” says Lady Elizabeth.

2) Don’t feel pressured to go OTT with the menu

If you’ve invited people round for dinner, it can be tempting to attempt the most impressively complicated recipe in your Ottolenghi cookbook – but Lady Elizabeth says not to bother. “A party with good table wine and good pasta or good sausages and mash can be just as much of a success as one with Krug, caviar, oysters and lobster,” she says. “It’s not about expensive ingredients. It’s about people.”

3) Be seen in a good light

The golden rules of hosting a killer dinner party, by the Queen's party planner