Royal Russian Etiquette

In Russia there are several institutions which retain an oriental flavor and the fact that the Czarina is always surrounded by an imposing bevy of unmarried women is a case in point. At least fifty young women, all the daughters of great Nobles pay her personal service.

Russian Maids of Honor

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An Academy at Moscow Where They Are Trained — Must be Able to Sew, Read Aloud for Hours and Stand for Indefinite Periods

Speaking of the Russian schools, there is one academy at Moscow which is unique in its way. I am sure that a similar institution does not exist in any other country, says the Philadelphia Times. "It is a school for young ladies of high birth, whose parents desire that they shall become Maids of Honor at the Imperial Court. 

The English Queen has only six or eight Maids of Honor, and I believe the Royal attendants of that description are even fewer in number at Courts where there is a Queen Regnant, Queen Regent or Queen Consort of first-class rank. Of course, by "Queens" I also mean "Empresses." 

All the reigning Consorts who have the Imperial title are also Queens. Empress Elizabeth of Austria is also Queen of Hungary; Empress Alexandria of Russia is Queen of Poland; Empress Augusta Victoria of Germany is also Queen of Prussia and Queen Victoria is also Empress of India. In Russia there are several institutions which retain an oriental flavor and the fact that the Czarina is always surrounded by an imposing bevy of unmarried women is a case in point. At least fifty young women, all the daughters of great Nobles pay her personal service. They are in two ranks, "Cipher" and "Portrait," distinctions which I will presently explain. 

Candidates for the position of Maids of Honor to the Empress have their names registered by a Court official, whose title might be translated as "Overseer of the Maids." This is often done a day or two after the birth of the aspiring young ladies. At the age of ten they enter the official school of the Maids of Honor and there they are taught everything pertaining to the Court, as well as everything that goes to make a well-educated young gentlewoman. 

The girls must acquire the art of legible writing and be able to correspond fluently not only in Russian, but in English, German, French and Italian. They must be able to take dictation in all those languages rapidly. They are also expected to become familiar not only with the routine etiquette of their own and foreign Courts, but they must learn rules of prudence, delicate distinctions of rank and other intricacies of Court life, almost impossible to explain to those who have not been born in the atmosphere of the purple. 

Future Maids of Honor are also required to be not only clever at embroidery but capable, if necessary, of ordinary domestic stitching. While in attendance there are always possibilities of a ready needle being required for the Empress or a Grand Duchess. They are also expected to know how to order a dinner and how to direct cooks in the way of preparing dishes favored by Imperial personages. They must have a capacity of being able to read aloud for hours if necessary, without undue fatigue; being able to stand for indefinite periods; of being able to reecive snubbings, scoldings, even abuse with patient composure, and finally they must inculcate within them the fact that an Empress or Grand Duchess is a personage almost divine in attribute. 

All these accomplishments acquired —or apparently acquired— it remains with a Maid of Honor lastly to be of such favor in her features, her general appearance and her dress that she enforces attraction from the Empress or from one of the other half-dozen Grand Duchesses of Russia, who are permitted to have the second pick of the Maids of Honor, after the Czarina has finished her own appointment. 

Before, however, such appointment can be ratified, the Czar himself inspects the candidates. Indeed, at various periods the Czar makes a point of visiting the school and generally "looks over" the girls. The Czarina's Maids of Honor enjoy a barbaric splendor of costume that far exceeds anything to be seen at any other European Court. A white satin robe stretches from chin to toes, the buttons up the front being set with precious stones. Over this is thrown a sort of red velvet cloak, embroidered with gold and having long pendant sleeves. On their heads rests the kakochnik or national cap of crimson velvet, thickly studded with jewels, from the summit of which hangs a veil of white tulle that spreads half way over the voluminous train. This gorgeous array is donned on all State occasions until the wearer passes from the "Cipher" to the "Portrait" stage of promotion. 

The juniors wear for some years on their left shoulders the monogram of their mistress worked in pale blue silk, but after a period of service they substitute for this the portrait of the Empress framed in brilliants and exchange their crimson and gold for a less radiant cap of green and silver. 

While receiving their education they wear plain woolen frocks, with frilled silk aprons, but these dresses are so contrived that the upper part of the bodices and the long sleeves can be removed at will. Whenever the Czar visits the schools all the girls appear decollete. —  Sacramento Daily Union and Philadelphia Times, 1896

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

Etiquette and Royal Gamblers

One should not expect a King to politely pay a gambling IOU. One should simply consider it an honor to lose money to someone of such noble birth.— "The King can do no wrong, you know. That being the case, what is the use of a King's redeeming his I.O.U.'s like any common, ordinary plebeian?"

Kings and Princes at the Gaming Table

Few, if any, nationalities, and still fewer classes of society, are exempt from the gambling mania. The demon of chance sways men of all sorts and conditions in all sorts of climes. The bootblack in the street will at any time risk his hard-earned pennies on "craps"; the millionaire in his so-called palace not infrequently stakes what would be a competence for the ordinary man on the turn of a single card. And so the fever goes— from hovel to palace and through all the intermediate stations in life.  

If there is any one class of mortals particularly stricken with the gambling fever it is royalty. The possession of substantially unlimited wealth, the constant adulation and semi-worship of their subjects, and the other environments and conditions peculiar to the crowned heads and their cousins and aunts and so on, predispose the kingly race to more often rapid life. One feature of this rapid life is devotion to dice and cards. ln all Europe there is scarcely a royal family which has not one or more members famous, or notorious, as you please, for his gambling propensities. In court circles everybody gambles, I may almost say.

The princelets and dukelets aud kinglets gamble in order to while away the monotony of life, and incidentally to acquire possession of as many pounds or francs or marks of their faithful courtiers as possible; the blue-blooded gentry and wealthy parvenus who encourage this same enviable desire of their supposed superiors gamble that they may have the honor of allowing said superiors to win their cash. 

What are a few paltry hundreds or thousands in comparison with the honor of having stacked it against His Royal Highness, the Prince of This-That-or-the-Other, with three or four kings against his royal highness' three or four aces? This is the way those people look at it, and thus it is that royalty's high-minded desire to gamble is soothed and sustained. But for this soothing and sustaining on the part of royalty's courtiers and admirors royal gambling would soon die out, simply because it would not have anything to feed upon.  

Royal I.O.U.s are very pretty things to put in a frame or paste in the family records, but as a rule the "I.O.U". part does not add much to their value. "The King can do no wrong, you know. That being the case, what is the use of a King's redeeming his I.O.U.'s like any common, ordinary plebeian?"—Sacramento Daily Union, 1893

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Moderator and Editor for 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

Royal Etiquette and Slanguage

One monarch's, “Oh, cucumbers!” is another monarch's, “Shut up!” Every era’s slang is different.

Princess Scorns Etiquette Rules and Drops into Slang

When royalty unbends, as royalty so often loves to do and takes on the parlance of the common people with spontaneous naturalness, the common people chuckle and are well pleased. At least this is true today in Bulgaria. 

It is being related that Princess Nadejda, sister of King Boris, was listening recently to the dignified matron of the royal court, Madame Peatrava-Tchomakova, telling something that purported to be true, but for the princess the earmarks of fiction were too apparent. 

Nadejda stood it as long as she could, and then burst out with “Oh, cucumbers!” There was a burst of laughter which almost drowned Nadejda’s quick apology, for court etiquette had been gravely damaged. The expression of the young princess might be rendered in English by, “Oh, rats!” — (AP) Euxinograd, Bulgaria, 1924 

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