Huh. Hate to say it, but that tradition has passed -- and passed long enough ago that I didn't know it *had* been the tradition. By the time I started being senior enough to wind up involved in the toasts (maybe 5-7 years ago), the Royal Peers were always factored into it. I do sympathize with guarding the privileges, though: it's why I always sit inside the Crown Finals list, despite it frequently being a worse view.

So out of curiosity: it is also now pretty clear tradition that the local Baron toasts the King, to start things off. Was that part of the original design?