WASHINGTON — , a prestigious collection of more than 300 authentic historic hotels in more than 40 countries, is pleased to announce The 2024 Top 25 Historic Hotels Worldwide Afternoon Tea Experiences list. The hotels selected for recognition in this list offer heritage and cultural travelers a chance to immerse themselves in a tradition from Victorian England that is being preserved and revived around the world: Afternoon Tea. While the custom of tea ceremonies dates back millennia around the world, the tradition of Afternoon Tea—a light meal served in the mid-afternoon with tea or sparkling wine—is traced to the English aristocrat Anna Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and Queen Victoria’s Lady of the Bedchamber.
Her household served dinner fashionably late, around 8 p.m., but the Duchess did not want to wait so long between luncheon and supper.
Being regularly hungry at 3 or 4 p.m., she instituted a new meal in the early 1840s.
The influential Duchess of Bedford became a trendsetter when her “Afternoon Tea” became popular among British women of means during the late-19th and early-20th centuries, a time when social and cultural mores were rapidly changing for many women. The pursuit of activities away from one’s home became socially acceptable, even fashionable, and Afternoon Tea became increasingly popular. Many of the historic hotels selected for this list are in the British Isles, but other luxurious historic hotels with Afternoon Tea experiences can be .