During the 1930s, it became known as a haunt of numerous writers and artists such as poet Cecil Day-Lewis, novelist Somerset Maugham, and the painter Sir Alfred Munnings.

Queen Elizabeth II attended the Dorchester when she was a princess on the day prior to the announcement of her engagement to Philip Mountbatten on 10 July 1947.

[12] During the 1930s it became known as a haunt of numerous writers and artists such as poet Cecil Day-Lewis, novelist Somerset Maugham, and the painter Sir Alfred Munnings.

[13][14][15] Shortly after the opening, Sir Percival David, a leading admirer of Chinese porcelain, moved his growing collection from the Mayfair Hotel to the Dorchester, where he kept it in his suites for many years.

[19] On its opening, Sir Malcolm McAlpine declared it to be "bomb-proof, earthquake-proof and fireproof," and the only damage inflicted on the building by the Luftwaffe during the war was several broken windows.

[21] Its wartime clientele included Lord Halifax (Foreign Minister), Oliver Stanley (Minister for War), Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal (Chief of the Air Staff), Duff Cooper (with his wife Lady Diana Cooper), Oliver Lyttleton (President of the Board of Trade) and Duncan Sandys (Financial Secretary to the War Office).

[25][26] During a dinner party which Harriman attended in the Dorchester, the bombing was so intense that guests came down to join him there as it was safer than in the upper-floor rooms.

[30] In March 1945, Ernest Hemingway and Time correspondent and lover Mary Welsh stayed at the Dorchester,[31] where they were entertained by Emerald, Lady Cunard, who had a three-room suite on the seventh floor.

[32] In 1949, the 150th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin's birth was organised at the hotel by the Society of Cultural Relations with the USSR, attended by the Soviet chargé d'affaires, the Polish ambassador, the Romanian minister, and Cecil Day-Lewis, raising MI5's suspicions that he still had communist sympathies,[33] a contention he later denounced.

In the post-war period, the Dorchester became one of the most popular hotels in London for actors and entertainers, and the banqueting rooms and suites became known for their press conferences and parties.

[citation needed] Diners at the Dorchester included Cyril Connolly, T. S. Eliot, Harold Nicolson, Edith Sitwell, Ralph Richardson, Elizabeth Taylor, Alfred Hitchcock, and Barbra Streisand.

Queen Elizabeth II attended the Dorchester when she was a princess on the day prior to the announcement of her engagement to Philip Mountbatten on 10 July 1947.

[19][6] On 3 June 1982, Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom was shot and seriously injured in an assassination attempt as he left the Dorchester.

In June 1998 the brother of the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, was sued by his former business partners in a case that was settled out of court.

[39] In March 2002, a robbery took place in the lobby of the hotel when thieves wearing ski masks smashed the jewellery cabinets with a sledgehammer and took off with jewels.

[citation needed] Kim Einhorn believes that this fusion of style was achieved tastefully and has remarked that the Dorchester Hotel is "a good example of somewhere it may be better to add decor rather than completely re-invent".

[48] DK Eyewitness describes the Dorchester as "the epitome of the glamorous luxury hotel, with an outrageously lavish lobby and a star-studded history".

[50] Considerable efforts to make the rooms soundproof at the Dorchester were made from the outset; the exterior walls were faced with cork, and the floors and ceilings of the bedrooms and suites were lined with compressed seaweed.

[57] In 2023 the Dorchester revealed extensive refurbishments, including guestrooms and suites designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon and the renamed Vesper Bar by Martin Brudnizki.

Virlogeux, head chef during the Second World War, had to succumb to rationing and a national maximum-price restriction of five shillings for a three-course meal.

The Grill restaurant, which serves British cuisine, is decorated in a Moorish theme, attributed to King Alfonso's influence during his time in London in exile in the 1930s.

[citation needed] According to restaurant critic Jay Rayner, "when you drill down on the menu it's what the faded gentry used to call high tea.

"[62] The Promenade was refurbished in 1990 by Leslie Wright with a gilded ceiling and reliefs and brass lanterns, and was altered again in 2005 by Thierry Despont, who fitted it with an oval leather bar; it forms the grand entrance and has a length which is equal to that of Nelson's Column.

The tables are set with elegant silver cutlery and crockery, with Corinthian columns made of marble, glittering chandeliers, French tapestries and potted plants in the background.

[68] The Dorchester Bar was initially rebuilt in 1938 and was run by Harry Craddock, one of the world's most famous barmen of the period, known for his Martini, Manhattan and White Lady cocktails.

This room full of chaps smoking enormous cigars and drinking martinis and this young girl reciting the Lords' Prayer.

John and Cynthia were unaware of the high profile of the event and attended with a hangover, with Lennon disappointing the crowd which had gathered at the Dorchester who were expecting a speech, simply muttering "Thank you very much, it's been a pleasure".

[78] In 1972, Raquel Welch visited Stamford Bridge and invited the Chelsea Football Club team back to a cocktail party at the Dorchester, which was also attended by the Rolling Stones.

[78] It was also at a Dorchester suite that actor Christian Bale was alleged to have assaulted his mother and sister shortly before The Dark Knight premiere in July 2008 and was subsequently arrested.

[79][80] In 2014, numerous celebrities started boycotting the hotel due to its links, via the sultanate, to the introduction of Sharia law in Brunei, which includes the death penalty for various forms of immorality.