A grand hallway with a black and white chequered marble floor, veined marble and white stone columns with carved capitals, an ornate plaster ceiling hung with brass lanterns, a red-carpeted marble staircase with a balustrade rising on the left, and an arched wooden doorway leading on at the far end
Westminster

Christofle hangs its silver on the trees at Raffles London

3 min read

Two trees in Christofle’s new ornaments and a fir-cone chandelier over the Grand Staircase give Raffles London at The OWO a Paris silversmith’s Christmas, with a welcome on silver upstairs.

Christofle has made silver for the tables of hotels and palaces since Charles Christofle founded the house in Paris in 1830. This December its ornaments hang from two Christmas trees in the grand hallway of the old War Office on Whitehall. Over the Grand Staircase beside them, a spiralling chandelier shaped like a fir cone takes the place of the Italian one that usually hangs there.

Christofle’s Under the Tree

Raffles London at The OWO has taken Christofle’s 2026 theme, Under the Tree, for its Christmas. Both trees are dressed entirely in the house’s new ornaments and silver decor. Christofle designs a new collection every year, and this one takes the familiar symbols of the season as its subject.

William Young designed the building for the army’s administration, and it opened as the New War Office in 1906. Winston Churchill worked here as Secretary of State for War from 1919 to 1921. The Grand Staircase now leads up to the Whitehall Ballroom, so a December party there climbs under the fir cone.

A carved stone doorway at night with a royal coat of arms in the pediment, a wreath of lights above double wooden doors, and two columns wrapped in lit garlands on either side of the steps
Two tall Christmas trees hung with red and gold baubles on a chequered marble floor, framing a red-carpeted marble staircase between stone columns

Olivier Thomas, the hotel’s managing director, says the partnership brings Christofle into “our lobby decor, culinary presentations, and in-room experiences”. It is the London chapter of a wider tableware partnership between Raffles and Christofle. Hamdi Chatti, Christofle’s chief executive, points to the house’s flagship at Harrods as its long-standing London address.

Christofle in the rooms

Guests arriving for a festive stay are welcomed with a soft cookie of dried fruits and grand cru chocolate, set on a Christofle silver platter. It is by Yazid Ichemrahen, the pastry chef whose creations also run through the hotel’s festive menus from 20 November.

Ichemrahen has also made a seasonal cake for in-room dining, served on Christofle china. It is all vanilla: a soft vanilla biscuit infused with Madagascar and Tahiti vanillas, under vanilla whipped cream. Guests in the Heritage Suites get his Yule log instead, an almond sponge with vanilla cream, hazelnut praline and fleur de sel, chocolate foam and an almond crisp.

A carved white marble fireplace hung with a garland and red stockings in a wood-panelled room, with a drinks trolley in the hearth, a leather fender seat and a decorated tree to the right
A Christmas tree hung with red baubles and lights beside a tall window with red and cream curtains, a red armchair and wrapped presents on a red rug

Two Christofle collections are laid through the hotel for the season, Malmaison silverware and Malmaison Impériale porcelain. At night a holiday bedtime story is left on each pillow.

The Under the Tree stay

The hotel’s festive stay takes the theme’s name. It runs for at least two nights and includes daily breakfast, festive treats on arrival and afternoon tea in The Drawing Room.

That tea is the hotel’s Operation Mincemeat afternoon tea, given a seasonal turn for Christmas. It comes with a live pianist and a view towards the Household Cavalry, with Buckingham Palace a short walk away.

The Christofle trees stand in the grand hallway in December 2026. The Under the Tree stay starts at £1,100, for a minimum of two nights.

Raffles London at The OWO, Whitehall, London SW1A 2BX.

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