King Hussein of Jordan celebrates its 43rd birthday at the Alpina.

For this occasion, an exclusive cake was prepared by a master confectioner in Munich and delivered to the Alpina by refrigerated transport. While unloading, one of the porters suddenly stumbled over the existing safety barrier. He could no longer hold the cake, fell down and the work of art shattered into every detail. Paralyzing horror!

Queen Noor had watched the action from her apartment and, after the initial shock, had "royally" enjoyed herself. The disaster was at least somewhat defused.

Still, good advice was expensive.

The cake supplier in Munich was not able to create such an elaborate cake in such a short time. Finally, a local confectioner was found who was able to quickly produce a replacement piece in the form of a multi-storey tree cake, so that the mishap was limited.

Even the king, who came later, was rather amused by the mishap and many of his entourage smiled about it for even longer.