King Charles II encouraged by his tea-loving Portuguese wife, Catharine of Braganza, gave the royal seal of approval and not surprisingly, both tea’s popularity and government taxation soon followed.

Tea's introduction was timely, as in the early 1600s the most popular alternatives to increasingly hazardous water were gin and beer. One writer illustrates the high alcohol consumption with the monks of Abingdon, who were entitled to three gallons of beer a day, adding “It is not too fanciful to connect the introduction of tea and coffee to the west with the advance of western civilisation and technical accomplishment."

A sober workforce was essential to Britains' industrialisation, but tea as important as the spinning jenny? Perhaps a point of conjecture. One fact we do know, is that Anna Maria Stanhope, wife of 7th Duke of Bedford, used to invite friends to her private rooms to fend off hunger pains with tea and bread, as etiquette dictated that dinner was to be served later and later.

She later became Lady of the Bedchamber to the young Queen Victoria in 1837, who was already an avid fan of tea. It is alleged that the Queen’s first command upon her accession was “Bring me a cup of Tea and The Times.”  The Duchess may well have passed on her ideas to Victoria, and so Afternoon Tea’s popularity began.