Requirements of a Royal Levee

Custom prescribes the behavior of the person introduced down to the minutest detail; the manner of her entrance and exit, the number of courtesies she shall make, the manner in which she shall manage her train, how she shall hold her fan, and every other apparently unimportant particular is prescribed with the most wearisome minuteness. – Depiction of a Gilded Age Debutante making her Debut to Queen Victoria in 1891.

WHAT IS REQUIRED AT A ROYAL LEVEE?

Miseries of a Debutante in Her Presentation at Court

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Rigid Rules Prescribed for Her Conduct – Annoyances to Which Those Seeking the Honor Are Subjected

The principal feature of fashionable life in a monarchical country is the presentation at court, without which no society belle considers any season properly finished, and which indeed is considered to be both the beginning and the crowning honor of society life. This being the case, it is not remarkable that among people who live in a country where a court is the center of society there should exist a marked anxiety to be presented at court. 

This feeling takes most definite form in England, and the desire for the honor has spread so far that even Americans, both gentlemen and ladies, have on many occasions manifested an eagerness to be “presented” hardly consonant with the simplicity of republican institutions, says a writer in the St. Louis Giobe-Democrat. The honor of presentation at court, however, is accorded to very few, and those of the most “select classes.” Embassadors and Ministers have the right to be presented, and would feel insulted if they were not. The nobility and landed gentry of England also in some degree consider Court presentation as a sort of right, the honor in their cases having acquired a sort of hereditary standing. 

Cabinet Ministers, officers of the army and navy, officials in the highest grades of the civil service are also presented, together with foreigners of distinction who ha have been introduced by their embassadors. Men of prominence in the learned and scientific pursuits are sometimes presented as a special favor, though they do not usually seek the honor, which in their case is somewhat doubtful. With merchants and manufacturers, the list of those who make an appearance at court may be said to close, and of these last two classes the number presented in court ceremonials is small. 

The strictest care is taken to exclude anything which savors of the shop, hence no retail merchant, however great his wealth, however respectable his standing, may anticipate the honor of appearing in the presence of the Queen. Instances sometimes happen of men of all these classes placing an exceedingly high value upon the honor, and when its bestowal was doubtful, making special effort to secure it. But men as a rule value a Court appearance very lightly. 

Not so their wives and daughters. What to trifling occurrence an empty honor, to be received without gratitude and forgotten with expedition, becomes to a woman the event of her life, and the amount of scheming, of planning among the ladies desirous of a presentation, would be deemed incredible were it not known to be a fact. The wives and daughters of men entitled to appear at court are also accorded that honor, and, as a rule, prize it so much more highly that the attendance of ladies always far exceeds that of men.

Ladies seeking presentation may be divided into two classes, those who enjoy the honor as a sort of right by reason of their birth or relationship and those who seek it as an honor. The former experience no difficulty whatever in obtaining access to the charmed circle which surrounds the Queen. When a young girl of noble or gentle birth attains the proper age she is presented by her mother or by her aunt, or by some other female relative having the right to appear. She is then said to make her debut, or in England parlance “to come out.” But for all other persons, including visiting Americans, a presentation at court is a matter of difficulty. 

The person desiring to be presented must have proper instructions, good associations, considerable wealth a very important factor – and must find a social god- mother willing to assume the responsibility of her introduction. The obliging chaperon may sometimes assume the charge from friendly regard, but, if Dame Rumor be correct, more than one godmother has taken the responsibility of introducing an American for the sake of the American dollar, and more than one American lady is currently reported to have paid a handsome sum to an English dame whose rank was exalted, but whose pocket-book was lank, for the honor of being taken to Court. Such things come high, but some people think them cheap at any price.

Having secured a social godmother, application for appearance at Court is made to the Lord Chamberlain, sometimes many weeks or even months beforehand, and the applicant then awaits her turn. When it comes her name with others is presented several days before the ceremony to the Queen, who rigidly strikes off any she may deem unworthy of the honor. With regard to this point the present sovereign of Great Britain is relentless, and many lady whose lot was not cast among the privileged classes, or whose character had been breathed upon, has at the last moment been disappointed in her expectations.

Long before the name of the candidate has been passed on the ambitious aspirant of a has placed herself under the tuition of a mistress of etiquette. This is a necessary preliminary of a Queen’s Court. The Queen’s Court is as rigid as were the laws of the Medes and Persians. Custom prescribes the behavior of the person introduced down to the minutest detail; the manner of her entrance and exit, the number of courtesies she shall make, the manner in which she shall manage her train, how she shall hold her fan, and every other apparently unimportant particular is prescribed with the most wearisome minuteness. 

On her entry to the reception-room her name is announced, and she must courtesy almost down to the earth before the Queen or the person representing the Sovereign, and then in the prescribed order once to every member of the Royal reception group. These courtesies are very low make a surprisingly heavy demand on the muscles, and occasionally, even to the experienced, involve the danger of toppling over backwards. Even should an accident happen, however, it would rarely be heard outside the charmed circle, for members of the court are extremely cautious in divulging news, particularly of so embarrassing a character.– San Francisco Call, 1891

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia