Chafing at Royal Etiquette

All smiles on her coronation, but reality loomed large –– By Court etiquette, Elizabeth must not do anything directly. She can give orders to her private secretary, to her Ladies of the Bed-Chamber or Ladies in Waiting, to her principal advisers and these, in turn, relay her orders to the lower echelons. This has irked the Duke of Edinburgh more than any single rule of the palaces, and he has broken it more than once...

Elizabeth, and Her Consort, Chafe At Rituals Of Royalty

LONDON (UP) Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, as young folks might be expected to do, are chafing a bit these days at the stupendous ritual and custom that hedges them around in the Royal Court. Wise Courtiers say nothing and wait for the irritation to subside, as they know it will in the course of time. It always has. Modernization of Court proceedings is always in progress, but it moves slowly. There are certain to be changes during the anticipated long reign of Elizabeth II, but nothing as dramatic as some of the sensational press are now demanding. 

For one thing, it is obvious that pressure on the Queen, if the buffering army of functionaries were removed or cut radically, would be greater than it is under the present system. Thus, cutting away too much red tape would expose the Queen to the very evil from which her self-appointed saviors seek to rescue her. The Court of St. James is a very old Court, and, in a county where tradition is venerated as nowhere else, there is a reluctance to drop customs for any reason whatsoever. It is quite true that there are servants in the Royal households who have servants to wait upon them. But it has always been that way, and despite the unionization of the palace help, there might be considerable unrest if this were changed. – Madera Tribune, 1953

👑Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia