When One Queen “Cut” Another

“If Margaret had been a person of great length and breadth of vision, of surpassing sweetness of temper or of real tact, she would have gone to see the Queen and looked her prettiest, though she would have liked to scratch her eyes out.” MEOW!!

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Queen Margaret (Margherita) was the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Italy from 1878 to 1900, by her marriage to Umberto I (Humbert). –Public domain image of Margherita of Savoy, Queen of Italy

A LADY OR A TIGER… WHICH?

Society circles as well as Court circles in Europe are seriously concerned over the Florence episode of a few days ago. It seems that Queen Victoria, who was staying at Florence for a season, received a call from King Humbert, but not from Queen Margaret, nor did the latter even send a message or a token of any sort to the Empress of India. It now turns out that this curious cut was all on account of a failure of Victoria to return a call made upon her by Queen Margaret five years ago. Time heals all hurts but those of wounded pride. Such wounds never wholly heal —in the case of women, at least. Men get over such things, but women never. It may even be doubted if time is even a mollifier of this sort of wound, with women who have abundant leisure, and therefore opportunity for reflecting upon the small, as well as, the great things of life.

We are sorry for Margaret, for the great woman knows about the particulars of what happened to her five years ago, when she went over to London to do her fall shopping. At best, most people will say it was small business not to call on so distinguished a person who had come to honor the city of Florence with her presence, whatever might possibly be urged concerning the strictest etiquette in the case. Besides, Victoria is very old, was a mighty sovereign before Margaret was through vulgar fractions, and is also about to retire forever from the gaze of the public, and deserved especial consideration on that account. 

Goethe, who spent many of his early years at Court, declared that true politeness made it important and necessary to exhibit and embellish trifles even to the building them into a system of behavior. This must often demand the finest sense of what is safest to avoid, as well as what to do, and insist upon others doing. If Margaret had been a person of great length and breadth of vision, of surpassing sweetness of temper or of real tact, she would have gone to see the Queen and looked her prettiest, though she would have liked to scratch her eyes out. Or if Humbert had occupied the place in that family that a man should occupy, he would have just dragged his wife over to call. We are sorry for Margaret. – Los Angeles Herald, 1893

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