I've started watching the Tudors, which my Anglophile family raves is "pretty good, but not nearly as good as A Man for All Seasons or Wolfe Hall or Lady Jane," and in the first episode, there's a scene where Henry VIII and the Queen, Catherine of Aragon, have their evening meal in a relatively small room with only their servants in attendance.
It is my understanding that in medieval and early modern monarchies, monarchs tended to dine publicly, at least for large meals. In fact, this was an important job for the monarch, as it provided time for interacting with many people at court and making displays of favor and other things. I would think that even smaller scale meals would have guests outside of the monarch and their spouse, am I wrong?
A reply to /u/gm6464
in medieval and early modern monarchies, monarchs tended to dine publicly, at least for large meals
Maybe so, but I know that Philip II and his contemporaries often dined alone, attended only by their servants. Henry VIII is contemporary of his father Charles V, so I think Henry had similar dining habits or protocols.
Perhaps you're confusing that period with the later Louis XIV period, which made a huge pomp and show of everything they did, from dressing to dining to everything else.
In fact, this website on the Tudors specifically state,
In the medieval period, dining, like everything else, was a communal affair. Henry VII and Elizabeth of York frequently dined in public in the Great Hall, surrounded by the court. However, Henry VIII preferred to dine in his Presence Chamber – a half public, half private space – and frequently took supper in his private rooms with a few friends and his current wife. Elizabeth I followed this example, and, unless she was entertaining foreign dignitaries or was on progress, usually dined alone.
So there was expectation that the monarchs make themselves publicly accessible through meals, but not all the time.