Etiquette for Austrian Royalty

It was thought highly improper for royalty to carry an umbrella.“Empress Sisi” was someone who had chafed at the Royal Court etiquette of the Austrian Imperial family ever since she married the young Emperor Franz Josef.

Umbrellas… Contrary to Etiquette? 

When the Empress of Austria first married, it was thought highly improper for royalty to carry an umbrella. Consequently, whenever it threatened to rain she was unable to have her accustomed walk. She moped so much that her husband declared that henceforth umbrellas should not be contrary to etiquette. – The San Jose Herald, 1895

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

Austrian Imperial Glove Etiquette

An older, Archduchess Gisela of Austria, who appears to be wearing gloves while holding her fan — Image from Pinterest

Only a Toddler

A pretty story of Royal etiquette is told by The Pall Mall Gazette. It seems that all the royal children, whether of Prussia, Austria or Bavaria, take equal delight in seeing the soldiers present arms to them. When the Princess Gisela, who is aunt to the little Archduchess Elizabeth, was 4 years old, she used to make a great fuss every time her gloves were put on. She was told one day that if she went out without her gloves the soldiers would not salute her. All of a sudden the little girl became most eager to wear gloves. Then as soon as she was out of doors she peered about for soldiers. Directly she caught sight of one she held up both her little fat hands and cried, "I got my gloves!" — Placer Argus, 1889

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

Royal Etiquette of 1624

Ferdinand II was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619, until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. The “Hofburg” translates as "Castle of the Court.” Built during the Middle Ages, “it was initially planned in the 13th century as the seat of the Dukes of Austria, the palace expanded over the centuries, as they became increasingly powerful. From 1438 to 1583, and again from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the Habsburg Kings and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and thereafter until 1918 the seat of the Emperors of Austria. Since then the palace has continued in its role as the seat of the head of state and is today used by the Austrian Federal President.” – from Wikipedia, public domain image

 

Here is a curious extract from the Court regulations of the Hofburg for the year 1624 on the etiquette to be observed by officers when invited to the Royal table. 

The regulation begins by stating that officers usually behave under such circumstances “with great politeness and good breeding, like true and worthy cavaliers,” but that the Emperor thinks it necessary to issue the following directions for the use of inexperienced cadets:

“1. Officers should come to the palace handsomely dressed and not enter the room in a half drunken state.

“2. When they are at table, they should not rock about on their chairs nor sit back and stretch out their legs.

“3. They should, not drink after each mouthful, as by so doing they will very soon get drunk, nor drink more than half a glass at a time, and before drinking they should wipe their lips and mustachios.

“4. They should not put their hands in the dishes nor throw bones under the table.

“5. They should not lick their fingers nor drink so brutally as to fall off their chairs.” – Newcastle News, 1900

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

Rigid Court Etiquette in Vienna

According to HistoryToday.com, picnics were a favourite pastime of the aristocracy in the 18th century. Mainly indoor affairs, picnics were held at one’s home or in hired rooms, they were associated with conversation, wit and were often seen as intellectual refinement. “At larger gatherings, there was also music or a dance – with the result that ‘picnic’ could be synonymous with a ball or party. In 1763, for instance, Lady Mary Coke told her sister that she had been at a type of ‘Subscription Ball’, known in Hanover as a ‘Picquenic’; and, in 1777, the novelist Cornelia Knight wrote in her diary that, during a stop-over in Toulouse, she ‘was entertained at a “pique-nique” dinner and dance.’” By the latter part of the Victorian era, the British “Aristocratic Picnic,” like many types of sporting events, evolved to become an activity followed variously by all classes of society, after efforts by civic leaders in newly developing areas like South Australia, to offer the middle and lower classes an alternative to drinking alcohol, gambling and carousing during their brief periods of leisure time. — Shown above, Archduke Ludwig Viktor Joseph Anton of Austria from the House of Habsburg. He was the youngest son born to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria, and he was the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. 

— photo source, Pinterest 

Apropos of the retirement of the Austrian Minister of Public Instruction, Baron Conrad, a Vienna paper relates the following episode, which shows how rigidly court etiquette is observed in Vienna: One evening, at a so-called “Aristocratic Picnic” at the Hotel Imperial, one of his daughters, who was dancing with the Archduke Ludwig Victor, pinned one of the cotillion orders on her partner’s coat. Such a thing is strictly forbidden by etiquette, and the Duke promptly tore off the order and threw it on the floor. 

The young Baroness being ignorant of this rule, went to her mother, weeping, and left the hall; and next day Baron Conrad had an audience with the Emperor, begging to retire to private life on account of the insult to his family. But the Emperor smiled, and told him he would “make it all right,” and the following day Ludwig Victor called on Baroness Conrad and apologized for his apparent rudeness in the most chivalrous manner.—Exchange, 1886

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

Etiquette and Empress “Sisi”

Chafing and frustrated at the strict regimen, etiquette and ceremony of Habsburg royal life, Empress Elizabeth, or “Sisi,” routinely defied protocol. Her mother-in-law, disapproving of Elizabeth, named her first child after herself and insisted on taking control of the child. In fact, her mother in-law demanded she give up control and allow her to rear all of Elizabeth’s and Franz Joseph I’s children. Elizabeth holds the record as the longest reigning Austrian Empress. For 44 years, Elizabeth championed independence and individualism. Elizabeth was assassinated when visiting Geneva, by an Italian anarchist. Upon death, Elizabeth became a world-renowned icon.

We are not, after all, to be permitted to catch a glimpse of the fair Empress of Austria, though she did pass through Paris a few days ago. About a thousand people went to the railway station to see her come in, but the lovely Elizabeth, at the last moment, quickly changed her destination and came into Paris by another route, thus disappointing the eager crowd of sightseers. She is well worth looking at, is this fairest of Royal ladies, though she is 38 years of age and a possible grandmother besides. 

I saw her at Vienna ten years ago; she then looked about 20, slender as a reed and graceful as a deer, with the lovliest dark eyes in the world, and such a profusion of dark silky hair that it fell, coil upon coil, from under her coquettish little hat, only restrained by the meshes of a fine silk, hair net. Her style and elegance were unsurpassable, far exceeding, to my mind, the more artificial graces of Empress Eugenie. She dresses very simply now, it is said, usually in black, gray, or lilac, never having worn gay colors since the death of her eldest daughter, several years ago. 

Her manners are marvelously sweet and winning, and she is as popular as she is beautiful. Truth compels me to state that it is currently reported that she henpecks her Imperial spouse unmercifully, and that he, like a wise man, submits quietly to her dominion. When she first arrived at the Imperial Court, she gave immense offense to her haughty mother-in, law, the Archduchess Sophia of evil memory, by insisting upon going out walking (think of profaning the sacred feet of the Empress of Austria by contact with the vulgar earth!) and carrying an umbrella, which last is, we believe a fatal sin against Royal etiquette.  She inherits the simplicity of her manners from her father, the Archduke Maximilian Luitpold, of Bavaria. This gentleman always travels very quietly, and with no more state or form than any ordinary private gentleman. 

He was recently on his way from Munich to Vienna to visit his daughter. In the same compartment in the train with himself, was a talkative little Austrian tradesman, who soon got into a conversation with his quiet-looking companion After talking over matters and things for some time, and getting ample information about his business, etc... he asked: “And, pray sir where are you going?” “To Vienna.” “On business?” “No, to visit my daughter who is married to an Austrian.” “Is your son in law in a good business?” “Well— tolerably good— but troublesome at times.” “What is he?” “The Emperor.” At his answer, the poor little man became covered with confusion, nor could all the laughing protestations of the good-natured Archduke avail to reassure him and he darted out of the carriage at the very next stopping-place. – Paris Letter to the Philadelphia Telegraph, 1875

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

Imperial Manners, Memoirs, More

Runaway Austrian Archduchess dishes the dirt in scathing memoirs. – Her Imperial Highness, her mother, she says, had a terrible habit of punishing her children by cutting their faces with diamonds, the royal children were beaten worse than dogs, and given to the care of “low minded and dangerous persons, without manners or education.” 

Archduchess in Memoir Scores Saxon Court – Calls King George “Brawler and Braggart”

Calls Crown Prince Husband a Boor –

Ridicules Royal Suitors –Paints Terrible Picture of Life in Imperial Household of Austria

NEW YORK, Nov. 26.—Mrs. Louise Toselli, who was an Austrian Archduchess and would be Queen of Saxony today, had she not eloped with her children’s tutor, Giron, has entered the “memoir list’’ with her husband. Toselli’s memoirs have been running in a magazine. Henry W. Fisher of New York is the publisher of Mrs. Toselli's diary, lost at the time of her elopement from Dresden with Giron. In the books the former Archduchess touches with characteristic levity upon life at the Court of Saxony. "When my first baby came I wanted to nurse it, of course,” she writes. “You should have seen Frederick Augustus’ (the Crown Prince) face. If I had proposed to become a wet nurse to some ‘Socialist brat’ he couldn’t have been more astonished.” Louise describes her father-in-law, King George, as a brawler and a braggart, her husband as a boor. King George’s kiss, she writes, “felt like a piece of gritty ice rubbing against my forehead.” 

Louise paints a terrible picture of childhood in Austria. Her Imperial Highness, her mother, she says, had a terrible habit of punishing her children by cutting their faces with diamonds, the royal children were beaten worse than dogs, and given to the care of “low minded and dangerous persons, without manners or education.” At 18 she was taken to Vienna to look over the field for possible suitors. She “reviewed” Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, who was a “Cohen, not a Coburg,” and Prince Danilo of Montenegro, a small, thin person, “looking like a counter jumper in holiday dress.” Under entry of May 1, 1893, Louise tells of an experience with a young Baron who attempted to explain to her what real love is. The Baron told her an anecdote about an alleged amour of Catherine the Great of Russia with a handsome soldier.– New York Times, 1912

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

Etiquette and Franz Josef

Franz Josef was the most beloved Emperor of the Habsburg Monarchy in Austria

Mark Twain and the Emperor

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How the Humorist Met Franz Josef 

An amusing description of the introduction of the late Samuel Longhorn Clemens—“Mark Twain”—to the Emperor Franz Josef in the later ’90s is given by Dr. Charles Vincent Herdliska, who as Secretary of the United States embassy at Vienna, effected the introduction.

Mr. Clemens was a good deal worried about what he should say to the Emperor. He told Dr. Herdliska that he feared he might be so overcome as to forget his little speech. “Never mind.” replied the Secretary “the Emperor will know what you intend to say. You have to send your speech to the Palace several days before you are presented. Then if his Majesty does not like what you are going to say, he need not receive you.

We shall find the Emperor standing in the center of the large reception hall in the Palace, and together we shall cross the floor to him, and I shall speak the words of presentation. When the Emperor has replied, you will say your say in English, addressing it to me, and I will repeat it to the Emperor in German. His Majesty will then reply to me in German and I will translate it to you.”

“Is that all there will be to it?” asked the humorist, with visible disappointment. “That will be all. And don’t offer to shake hands. That would be an unpardonable breach of Court etiquette. As soon as we have exchanged greetings, we shall withdraw.”

On the appointed day Mr. Clemens and Dr. Herdliska appeared at the Palace. Between double lines of guards, the two Americans were ushered through room after room until they reached the threshold of the audience chamber. The door of the reception hall swung open, and humorist and secretary advanced toward the solitary figure of the aged Monarch.

All three bowed and Dr. Herdliska spoke the formal words of presentation. The Emperor replied. Mr. Clemens then began his speech, but had not repeated more than a sentence or two when the Emperor spoke a few words in German to Dr. Herdliska, and turning on his heel, started across the floor toward a distant door.

The Secretary started to follow; but Mr. Clemens, who understood German imperfectly, clutched his arm, whispering, “Hold on, doctor! This isn’t according to your instructions! Shall I go on with my speech?” Dr. Herdliska explained that the Emperor had said, ‘‘Tell Mr. Clemens he need not finish his speech. I have already read it. Both of you come into my library.” Much relieved. Mr. Clemens followed Dr. Herdliska into the Emperor’s study, where his Majesty put all formality aside and entertained the two Americans for an hour.

The humorist was by this time in quite a mellow mood; his fear of royalty was a thing of the past. The Emperor’s cigars were very much to his liking. As the interview came to an end, the Emperor did a most unusual thing; he extended his hand to Mr. Clemens, who gave it a hearty grasp. And when Dr. Herdliska and his companion reached the latter’s hotel, they found the Emperor had done another unusual thing—he had sent a servant to the author’s apartment with a dozen boxes of the cigars that had given the humorist so much satisfaction. — Los Angeles Herald, 1915

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

Court Etiquette vs Courtesy

Elisabeth of Austria, was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and thus Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen Consort of Croatia and Bohemia.

Court Etiquette and Poor Hospitality

The London correspondent of Figaro accounts for the failure of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria to visit the Queen at Windsor on her return from her fox-hunting expedition to Ireland. Whether true or not, the story is at least interesting. 

A year ago, when the Empress' visit to London drew near its close, she went to Windsor one wintry Sunday to make a farewell call on Queen Victoria. According to the etiquette of the court, the hour of her arrival and departure had been announced beforehand. One of the royal carriages awaited her at the station and took her up to the castle through a driving snow storm. The visit over, the Empress took her departure at the prescribed time and was not asked to remain, although the storm had increased in fury. 

Such an invitation would have been only an act of common politeness for common people, but it would have violated the canons of court etiquette. On the way back to the station, one of the horses slipped and fell, causing a delay of some minutes, during which the sharp whistle of the train reached the ears of the Empress. The station was reached too late. In any other class of society the disagreeable situation would have been remedied by the return of the traveler to her hostess, but etiquette forbade counting on the royal hospitality under such circumstances. So the Empress stayed at the station, warming her feet at the fire in the station-master's little parlor, and satisfying her hunger with a share of the family dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. 

The Empress Elizabeth is not a woman to be annoyed by such trifling accidents as missing the train and being thrown on the hospitality of a poor railroad official, but she preserves a little feeling of spite against Queen Victoria for not sending the carriage back to take her to the castle when she learned of the affair, and for never troubling herself to inquire about the end of the adventure. 

It is said that her Imperial Majesty has made a vow never to set her foot in Windsor Castle again, and that she declined an invitation to the wedding of the Duke of Connaught in terms too curt to be courteous. — The Pacific Appeal, 1879

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

Etiquette Dilemma's Instant Princess

American born, Anita Rhinelander Stewart, married Dom Miguel of Braganza, Infante of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, in Dingwall Castle, Scotland, on September 15, 1909. Stewart was given the regal title, "Princess of Braganza," by the Emperor of Austria just the day before the wedding. Dom Miguel, Duke of Viseu, died in 1923. The Princess then moved to New York City. But in order to regain her American citizenship, she had to renounce her royal title, however, she was still referred to as "Princess" by society.

American Created Princess

VIENNA — The emperor has created Miss Anita Stewart a princess in her own right, thus removing any difficulty of etiquette which might have been raised at the exclusive Austrian court following her marriage. 

Prince Miguel has just been here to visit the emperor and to thank him for the honor conferred on his bride-to-be. He has now returned to Scotland with nearly forty guests. –Los Angeles Herald, 1909

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

Royal Parents Defy Etiquette

A “perambulator” or “pram” (and for some odd reason, according to this account, a “Go-Cart.”)

Royal Parents Defy Etiquette 

to Wheel Heir in “Go-Cart”

Being an Archduke and next in succession to two crowns, His Highness Charles Francis Joseph is deprived of one of the high privileges of a papa. Proud as he is of his son, Otto, now a sturdy two-year-old, the Archduke is forhidden by court etiquette from wheeling the young hopeful about the streets of Vienna in a perambulator. 

But royal hearts can be human, and the Archduke and his wife, Archduchess Zita, who is near kinswoman, have devised a way to be real parents without offending court superciliousness. They put baby in the automobile, strap the perambulator on behind and drive out into the country. 

There along secluded roads may be seen a pair of Imperial and Royal Highnesses taking turns in pushing baby's chariot, while Imperial and Royal Highness No. 1, the baby, chatters in fluent German about the rural sights and grounds about him. — From The Sacramento Union, May 1914

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