Anyway, the encouraging news is that, while Her Majesty may have enjoyed marmalade on the royal toast, the sandwiches were more of a joke as marmalade has always been one of Paddington's favourite foods. That's a relief!
But it turned my thoughts to other strange sandwich fillings some people enjoy (though I intend to leave the chip butty out of discussions because I dealt with that a few weeks back).
The first delight I will discuss comes from the United States, and provides me with a smooth link because it also involves marmalade. Take a grilled pork sausage, slice it in half lengthwise, top it with marmalade and slap it between two pieces of bread. If you want. Thanks, but perhaps later.
Also from the US comes the peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich. Elvis had a penchant for the peanut butter and banana version, but would possibly have approved of the addition of grilled bacon. The recipe I found added an even curiouser note: "Add some jelly or jam for an extra pop of zest". Again, perhaps later.
There's also a banana and mayonnaise sandwich. Thanks, but I couldn't eat another thing.
This next one sounds British and must be a near relative of the deep-fried Mars Bar. Known as Sweet Eve, this sandwich combines dark rye bread with ... wait for it ... a melted Snickers bar, sliced apple and cold custard. Not now, thanks. I've just eaten.
Giant British retailer Tesco has created a strawberry and clotted cream sandwich. It is generally felt that it will not oust the real thing from Wimbledon.
John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, is generally considered to be the "inventor" of the sandwich. In 1762, he was mid card game and did not want to leave the gaming table so ordered staff to bring him some roast beef between two slices of bread so he could eat with his hands and continue to play.
You can choose whether or not to believe that story, but I guarantee you'll believe he would not have ordered the filling to be banana, bacon, peanut butter and jelly or jam!
But let's head back to the citrus zing of marmalade. At the time of writing this, the Queen/Paddington sketch had enjoyed about 13 million views worldwide! This popularity has not been without its issues.
It appears that, following the Queen's death, there have been many marmalade sandwiches left as tributes alongside a few stuffed bears and truckloads of flowers.
Well, the Royal Parks authorities had to ask people not to leave the sandwiches because of their negative effect on local wildlife, attracted by the sweet, sticky, sun-warmed filling (tooth decay in squirrels?).
To make matters worse, the animals did not dispose of the plastic wrapping in a thoughtful manner.
The sandwiches really did put the authorities in a bit of a pickle. It was a sticky situation and all because of marmalade sandwiches.
