in London for several years. There was a long tradition of French chefs working in the houses of Britain's rich and powerful; among the celebrated chefs to move from France to England in the early 19th centry were Louis Eustache Ude and Antonin Carême. Philippe was head chef to the Duke of Cambridge, a son of George III, at Cambridge House, the duke's mansion in Piccadilly. In early 1831 Philippe secured a junior post for his brother in the kitchens of Cambridge House. Over the next six years Soyer moved upwards from post to post. He became sous-chef to the 2nd Marquess of Waterford, and then, in 1833, to the 1st Duke of Sutherland, whose London residence, Stafford House (now Lancaster House), was widely considered to be the grandest in the capital. The duke died in July of that year and Stafford House passed to his son. The latter's wife, Harriet, was a Whig hostess and promoter of liberal causes; she remained a friend and supporter of Soyer throughout his life. Soyer gained his first appointment as a head chef in a British establishment in the household of William Lloyd, a rich landowner, who maintained a town house in Upper Brook Street, Mayfair but whose main residence was at Aston Hall in Shropshire. Soyer worked for the Lloyd family for more than three years, becoming well known among the Shropshire landed gentry, who vied to lure him away from the Lloyds but had to content themselves with borrowing his services for important occasions. During his employment with the Lloyds he decided to have his portrait painted by François Simonau, a Belgian painter and teacher based in London. By some accounts he intended to send the portrait to Adelaide Lamain in Paris, but at Simonau's studio he met the artist's stepdaughter and pupil (Elizabeth) Emma Jones, with whom he fell in love. Simonau was not pleased – "A mere chef!" – but the romance flourished. Soyer left the Lloyds in early 1836 to take over the kitchens of the 1st Marquess of Ailsa at St Margaret's House near Twickenham, a large riverside residence. Ailsa also had a central London house at the Privy Garden in Whitehall. He was a gourmet, a prominent Whig and a freemason; it is possible that it was he who introduced Soyer to freemasonry, of which he became a lifelong member. Ailsa took a very active interest