Creating a coronation collection harriet hastings we meet the luxury biscuit boss with sweet treats fit for a king

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS

K ing Charles III has been depicted in many ways to celebrate his coronation, but one of the most extraordinary images created for this historic moment is of a monarch wearing a crown and ermine robes – in the form of an exquisitely iced ginger biscuit.

Jolly Ginger, as he’s known, is part of a coronation collection that also features an iced sceptre and orb, the glittering Gold State Coach and a mouth-watering Westminster Abbey, alongside royal-themed chocolates and macarons bearing the King’s cypher, CIIIR.

The woman behind these creations is Harriet Hastings, the founder of luxury confectionery firm Biscuiteers, which has also made delectable ranges for royal weddings and babies, as well as for the Queen’s Diamond and Platinum Jubilees.

Producing three million handmade biscuits a year – including 50,000 for the coronation alone – the brand counts Sarah, Duchess of York, Adele, the Beckhams, Nigella Lawson, Robbie Williams and Claudia Winkleman among its greatest fans.

SUCCESS STORY

And as Harriet prepares lunch with daughter Holly at their 16th-century home in Suffolk, she exclusively invites HELLO! into the idyllic country retreat where her success story began.

Their charming beamed longhouse has been the main family home for the entrepreneur and husband Stevie Congdon since 1999. “Moving there enabled us to give our children an upbringing that was closer to the one we had,” says Harriet, 58, who is mum to Holly, 30, Joshua, 27, Florence, 24, and Violet, 18.

“In the countryside, there are outdoor activities, ponies and horse riding, but most of all, it was – and still is – the place where we can all be together.”

Of the creation of Biscuiteers, which Stevie co-runs, she says: “It all started with me wanting to spend more time with the kids. After Violet was born, my incentive was to build a life that was better for me and my family, where I could spend the school holidays with them and not have to go into an office.”

When Harriet, who was working in marketing, noticed a gap in the market for luxury food available to buy online as a gift, she experienced a eureka moment.

“I realised that a biscuit would be the perfect canvas on which we could create a range of designs,” she says. “Like flo