Only one five-star hotel has the Royal Warrant from the queen for Hospitality Services. Only one has been run by the same family since 1910. Only one hosted Kate Middleton, the wife of a future king and mother of another, in her final night as a single girl before she walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey. This is the Goring, classic but not self-importantly so, assiduously appropriate in style and rich in expensive fabrics, down to the Gainsborough silk on the walls, yet still goofy enough to put a stuffed sheep in every room. The fleet of doormen wears bowler hats, and the signature canary-yellow china at its hotly pursued afternoon tea (4-month wait) is made just for the hotel. The effect is something like an English country house, especially as you look out oversized windows at its blooming garden. When you’re here, there’s no mistaking you’re steeping in London culture.