A Duke’s Respect of Court Etiquette

The Duke and the Queen seem always to have been on very affectionate terms, perhaps because he took her part in the controversy about the Prince’s position. “Let the Queen put the Prince where she likes,” he said, " and settle it herself; that is the best way.” An anecdote is told which shows that the Duke had not much respect for the traditions of Court etiquette when they conflicted with the dictates of common sense. 
– Photo source of the Duke and the Queen from the tv series “Victoria”, Pinterest

In 1845 the Queen and Prince Albert visited the Duke of Wellington at Strathfieldsaye. “The Duke,” writes Mr. Anson, the Prince's secretary, “takes the Queen in to dinner and sits by her Majesty, and after dinner gets up and says, ‘With your Majesty's permission, I give the health of her Majesty,’ and then the same for the Prince. They then adjourn to the library, and the Duke sits on the sofa by the Queen for the rest of the evening until 11 o’clock, the Prince and the gentlemen being scattered about in the library or the billiard room, which opens into it.”

Mr. Anson also writes that the Duke, under provocation from certain too curious impertinents, had put up a large notice in the grounds directing the people who wished to see the house to drive up to the hall door and ring the bell, but that they were to abstain from walking on the flag-stones and looking in at the windows. To an application from a newspaper for particulars of the Royal visit, the Duke replied: “F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr._________ and begs to say he does not see what his house at Strathfield Saye has to do with the public press.”

The Duke and the Queen seem always to have been on very affectionate terms, perhaps because he took her part in the controversy about the Prince’s position. “Let the Queen put the Prince where she likes,” he said, " and settle it herself; that is the best way.” An anecdote is told which shows that the Duke had not much respect for the traditions of Court etiquette when they conflicted with the dictates of common sense. The late Lord Albemarle, when Master of the Horse, was very sensitive about his right in that capacity to sit in the sovereign's carriage on state occasions. “The Queen,” said the Duke, when asked his opinion, “can make Lord Albemarle sit on top of the coach, under the coach, behind the coach, or wherever else her Majesty pleases.” – The New York Times, 1874

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