Old Mexican Royal Etiquette

The visit of the Empress Elisabeth at the Castello di Miramare in 1861; Charlotte of Belgium (in white dress) welcomes Elisabeth, while her husband Ferdinand Maximilian and his brother Emperor Franz Joseph I, wait on the boat.

Mexican etiquette puts on the newcomer the responsibility of making all the social advances. Visitors to any principal Mexican city, whatever their rank, foreign ministers not excepted, must in solemn print give notice to every family, of any consideration resident in the municipality, that they have arrived and put themselves and their homes at the disposition of the residents. Otherwise, they will receive no social attention whatever.

Intending visitors to that country need to be equipped with this knowledge of the customs prevailing there. The point of etiquette involved is peculiar to that country, having no known existence elsewhere. The people are very kind and hospitable when approached in their own way, and none other is understood or taken any notice of by them. —Red Bluff Daily News, 1905

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