Etiquette of a King’s Wardrobe

What keeps the Royal valets busy (and the King always takes a couple with him,—like Count D'Orsay) is the constantly growing stock of official clothes, because Albert Edward is a stickler for etiquette. If he goes to an army ceremony, he wears the uniform of the Field Marshal, and he attends naval affairs dressed as an Admiral of the Fleet.

King Edward's Wardrobe

Much nonsense is customarily talked and written about the King's clothes. But with every deduction made for the imagination of talkers and writers, the fact remains that Edward VII travels with a good deal of baggage “whene’er” (as the Isaac Watts hymn puts it) “he takes his walks abroad.” The King is a man of sense in regard to dress, whatever he may be in any other respect; but I do not think he carries about, or wears more ordinary clothes, than any other gentleman of high position. 

What keeps the Royal valets busy (and the King always takes a couple with him,—like Count D'Orsay) is the constantly growing stock of official clothes,  because Albert Edward is a stickler for etiquette. If he goes to an army ceremony, he wears the uniform of the Field Marshal, and he attends naval affairs dressed as an Admiral of the Fleet. Similarly, when he went to Kiel the other day to visit his nephew (whom the irreverant call William the Bumptious and the punctilious Kaiser Wilhelm) he took along, not only a sufficiency of yachting suits and flannels—though the King hates flannel—but also a full rig out for every German and Prussian regiment of which he is an honorary officer; and conforming to the ridiculous and meaningless custom of European courts he is in that position with regard to a good many. 

And, of course, there were jacket suits of various weights, because the King loves a lounge suit, and though being what he is, he may not know the luxury of an old, shabby suit, he gets as near it as he dare. The King, though a well-dressed man and a man (as I said before) of some, though not of, exquisite taste (his son, the Prince of  Wales, is neither) is not a dandy and never was a dandy.—The Haberdasher, 1904

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Etiquette and an Italian Queen

Though her father “was utterly lacking in royal etiquette” it did not preclude him from making advantageous and successful matrimonial matches for all of his Princess daughters. – Queen Elena of Italy was the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and his wife, Milena Vukotić. As wife of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, she was Queen of Italy from 1900 until 1946 and Queen consort of the Albanians from 1939 until 1943.

We Celebrate – Italian King and Queen Seventeen Years Married 

Old King Nicholas of Montenegro is famed as a warrior, poet and playwright, and he is also entitled to rank as the world’s greatest matrimonial matchmaker. Once somebody remarked, in the presence of the Montenegrin Monarch, that the little Balkan state had no exports, “Sir," said the King, “you forget my daughters!” Through the marriages he arranged for his feminine offspring, Nicholas is related to most of the royal families of Europe. But his great coup, his matrimonial masterstroke, was when he married his daughter Elena to the King of Italy just 17 years ago today.

The alliance between Vittorio Emanuel III, ruler of a world-power, and the daughter of a petty Prince —for Nicholas has not yet proclaimed himself King —startled all the Courts of Europe. Not only was Montenegro small and unimportant, but it was hardly considered civilized. Nicholas, the Prince of “Gospodar” was utterly lacking in royal etiquette. He often held Court under a tree, acting as judge and rendering verdicts on petty quarrels of his people. He clung—and still clings—to the picturesque costume of his ancestors, consisting of gold-embroidered coat, baggy trousers, high boots and tambourine cap, with a pair of pear-handled pistols sticking from his belt. He wore such a costume to Rome when he arranged the details of the wedding. 

Europe stood aghast at the match, and yet there can found no happier wedded pair in Europe than little Victor Emmanuel and his stalwart Montenegrin wife. Like all her countrywomen, Queen Elena is “most divinely tall” and towers far above her husband. The Italian King will celebrate his seventeenth wedding anniversary today without a regret, and the Queen is the happiest of wives and most devoted of mothers. Yet, it may be stated as a fact that the King has utterly failed in living up to the three favorite Montenegrin proverbs for the government of wives. 

“He who doesn’t beat his wife is no man,” is a proverbial bit of wisdom that is still in full force in Montenegro. Another cynical saying of male Montenegrins is, “Twice in a lifetime is a man happy—once when he marries his wife, and again when he buries her.” Among Montenegrin women there is a proverb which runs, “Love me true, love me quick; pull my hair, and use the stick.” It is safe to say that Victor Emmanuel has never lived up to the latter part of this proverb. 

The youth of Queen Elena was spent in the ramshackle old Palace of her father in Cetinje, and in wandering, gun in hand, about the mountains of her native land. Like her sisters, who all married well, Elena had a French governess, and she was taught the French and Italian languages, as well as her native Serb tongue. She is a crack shot with the rifle, and if the Italian Royal family should be dismissed from the job of reigning, Elena could be depended upon to keep the larder supplied with game. King Victor and Queen Elena have had four children, one son and three daughters. The Crown Prince, now in his tenth year, has many of the physical characteristics of his mother, and promises to be a true Montenegrin in stature. – Sacramento Union, 1913

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Etiquette and Li Hongzhang

Li Hongzhang was the leading Chinese diplomat of the late Qing era and 19th century. The article below describes his meeting Queen Victoria.

She was, in fact, every inch a Queen. Never under any circumstances did she permit any relaxation of the rigid etiquette of the Court, not even to the changing of a feather in the headdress of a Debutante of the highest rank and the bluest of blue blood; not even to the changing of a button on the uniform of the Prince of Wales, her son, and heir to her throne. Her experience of Orientals and their ceremonies saved her from even making the slightest lapsus in dealing with them. 

During Li Hongzhang's tour through Europe, he was received with courteous empressement by the other rulers whose Courts he visited. Each and all made the gross mistake of shaking hands with him and treating him almost as an equal. When the Viceroy was ushered into Victoria's presence chamber she remained seated, wrapped in the Imperial dignity that has awed mightier men than he. The intelligent celestial grasped his position at once. He groveled to the British Empress-Queen as he would have to his master, or the Dowager Empress, and when the interview was over and he had bowed himself out backward, he, deeply impressed, remarked to his entourage: "Her Majesty is the only real Monarch of them all." — Los Angeles Herald, 1901

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Dismissed for Poor Etiquette

 "I am directed by his Excellency to state that the remark you were heard to make on his Excellency's beer at the late Viceregal Ball was neither courteous nor proper."

Etiquette in the Colonies

Mr. C. B. Croons, a contractor of Melbourne, having been declared by the Governor of the colony unfit to hold the appointment of a government contractor, wrote to the Colonial Secretary requesting to know what offense he had given, to which he received the following reply : 

"Colonial Secretary's office, June 3. 1855. Sir— His Excellency, the Governor, having duly considered your request to be informed of the grave charges brought against you, which have caused your dismissal, and having thought fit to accede to such request, I am directed by his Excellency to state that the remark you were heard to make on his Excellency's beer at the late Viceregal Ball was neither courteous nor proper. And, furthermore, that the want of discretion was aggravated by your recumbent bearing and gestures while in the act of leaving the supper room.

His Excellency, at the same time, directs me to state that although the offense would in itself come under the heading of extreme indiscretion, yet having been committed on a great state occasion, where court etiquette was obviously enforced on all sides, his Excellency had no other course open to him than to order your immediate public dismissal and official disgrace, independent of the fact of the bad example set by you to all other government contractors, whose duty it is at all times, and more especially in public, to support and countenance all articles of consumption furnished by official contract. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, J. Moore, A. C. S. Charles B. Croons, Esq." – Daily Alta, 1855

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Etiquette of Royal Courts

Tokay is the name of the wines from the Tokaj wine region in Hungary, or the adjoining Tokaj wine region in Slovakia. The region is noted for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, a style of wine which has a long history in this region. The "nectar" comes from the grapes of Tokaj is mentioned in the national anthem of Hungary.

Etiquette of Royal Courts

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That It Calls for Some Queer Proceedings Is Here Shown

In the Austrian Court it is contrary to custom for perishable articles to appear twice on the Imperial table. The result is large perquisites for the attendants. To one man fall all the uncorked bottles, to another the joints, and to another still the game or the sweets. Every morning a sort of market is held in the basement of the palace, where the Viennese come readily to purchase the remains. And there is no other means of procuring Imperial Tokay than this.

Long ago in England even the greatest men in the land were pleased to receive such perquisites. In the reign of Henry II, for instance, the Lord Chancellor was entitled to the candle ends of one great, and forty small, candles per day. And the aquarius, who must be a Baron in rank, received 1 penny for drying towels on every ordinary occasion of the King's bathing. 

The ceremonial that the Revolution swept away, the first Emperor Napoleon was careful to revive in a less extreme form, and it is characteristic of the man that he made a special study of it, and went so far as to prescribe the special forms to be used on great occasions. Before his coronation, M. Isabey, the miniature painter, gave seven rehearsals with wooden dolls, appropriately dressed, of the seven ceremonials that were to be enacted. And one ceremony being especially intricate, the functionaries rehearsed it in person in the Gallery of Diana at the Tuileries, a plan having been carefully traced with chalk on the floor. This was the sort of thing in which Napoleon especially rejoiced, and he himself arranged beforehand all the details of the entry of Maria Louisa into France, and of his subsequent marriage with her. 

Among other particulars on reaching what was then French territory, the Archduchess was conducted into the eastward room of a three roomed house near Braunau; the French Commissioner entered westward; while the third room in the middle was occupied by the rest of the party. And M. de Bausset, who gives an account of the proceedings, having bored holes with a gimlet in the door of the middle room, had a splendid view of the unconscious Princess. But, he quaintly adds, it was the ladies who took advantage of his forethought.

The ceremonial of the Chinese Court is somewhat exacting. It used to include, if it does not now, complete prostration before the throne. Last century a Persian envoy refused to go through the degrading ordeal. Directions were given to the officials to compel him by stratagem to do so. On arriving one day at the entrance to the hall of audience, the envoy found no means of going in except by a wicket, which would compel him to stoop very low. With great presence of mind and considerable audacity, the Embassador turned around and entered backward, thus saving the honor of his country. — New York Evening Post, 1895

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French Court Etiquette Intervened

Henriette as Minerva holding a painting of her husband, Philippe de France

Incidents in the Lives of World-Famous Women —

How the Princess Henriette of England Just Missed Being Queen of France

Among the fair women who made the Court of Louis XIV famous for brilliancy and beauty, there were none lovelier than Henriette, Duchess d’Orleane. She was the daughter of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria, and the wife of Philllppe, “the little Monsieur,” the King’s brother. 

When misfortune descended upon the royal House of Stuart the Princess Henriette was smuggled into France disguised as a vagabond in a ragged suit of boy’s clothes. She was restored to her mother, and although the exiled Queen was supremely happy to have her little daughter safe under her care, she was often driven to despair by tbeir extreme poverty. The little girl was many times forced to spend the day in bed because there was no fuel to burn. 

Anne of Austria, the Queen-Mother, supplied the English exiles with clothes and money, and, later on, invited them to the French Court. As the little Henriette approached young woman-hood she gave promise of becoming very beautiful. She is described in the following words by a contemporary: "Her air is as noble as her birth. Her hair is of a bright chestnut hue, and her complexion rivals that of the gayest flowers. The snowy whiteness of her skin betrays the lines from which she sprang. Her eyes are blue and brilliant, her lips ruddy, her throat beautiful, her arms and hands well made- Her charms show that she was born on a throne and is destined to return there.” 

She made her first public appearance at a ball given by Anne of Austria at the Louvre. When the gentlemen chose their partners for the opening dance the handsome young Louis of France offered his hand to the Princess of Mercoeur. The Queen-Mother sternly rebuked him for this breach of etiquette, saying: “You must dance first with the Princess Henriette of England.’’ Queen Henrietta Maria saw that the King was not pleased with this interference, and sought to mend matters by answering: "My daughter has hurt her foot and therefore cannot dance.” 

But Anne of Austria was determined that her son should obey the laws of Court etiquette and insisted. “Then Henriette and Louis shall sit out the dance together.” From that moment Louis formed a dislike for his cousin, blasting the fond hopes of the two Queens that he would ask Henriette to share his throne. Later that evening one of the Courtiers remarked upon the charms of the young English Princess. “I do not like little girls. She is much too thin,” was Louis’ reply. 

Though Louis was blind to the beauty of Henriette, his brother. Monsieur, was not. The young dandy determined that he would like to marry and have a Court of his own. The Duke made known his desire to the King, who laughed heartily and said; “You shall wed the Princess of England, for no one else wants her.”

Philippe was well pleased at this promise, and hastened to plead his cause with Henrietta Maria. He fell genuinely in love with his lovely cousin, and having gained the consent of her brother, Charles II, the wedding was celebrated at the Palais Royal without further delay. The young Duchess immediately became the central figure of gay Court life. She captivated all who approached her. “Never was there a Princess so fascinating,” the Abbe de Colsy has written. “Her whole person seemed full of charm. You feel interested in her, you love her without being able to help yourself.” 

Even King Louis fell beneath the spell of her beauty and charm. His sister-in-law became one of his dearest friends. He regretted the days when he had failed to recognize her charms and was all the more attentive because of his previous neglect. Had Louis' anger at having to sit out a dance with the Princess of England not blinded him to the beauty and charm of Henriette she might have been his Queen instead of Marie Therese. — By Eloise Farrington for the Los Angeles Herald, 1917

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More Royal Presentation Etiquette

After waiting perhaps for several hours the aspirant hears her name called by a page, a couple of gorgeous attendants adjust her train, she is ushered into the royal presence, where she courtesies the requisite number of times, then retires backward, maneuvering her train as best she can while bowing to the earth. 

More Victorian Etiquette for a Debutante Being Presented to Queen Victoria Herself 

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. 

The courtesies are very low, make a surprisingly  heavy demand on the muscle, and occasionally, even to the experienced, involve the danger of lopping over backwards. Even should an accident happen, however, it would rarely be heard outside the channel circle, for members of the Court are extremely cautious in divulging news, particularly of so embarrassing a character. 

While the instruction is going on, the dress is being made, and the garment for so momentous an occasion must not only be as costly as her purse can buy, but as original as her imagination can devise. 

The gentlemen who are presented at Court are not trembled in this respect; an officer wears the uniform of his rank, an Embassador wears the Court dress of his own country, or occasionally, by courtesy, defers in the matter of attire to the Court where he makes his appearance. But for the civilian, a Court dress is carefully devised, and with the pattern he must comply to the smallest particular. 

The Court dress at present in use in Great Britain is an abomination composed of modifications of the hideous costume worn in the time of George III. The time has gone by when courtiers could ape Sir Walter Raleigh in splendor of costume. It is recorded of this Nobleman that he appeared at Court in a white satin vest, over which was a doublet flowered and embroidered with pearls. The feather in his hat was fastened with rubies and pearls. His breeches and stockings were of white silk. His shoes were buff, covered with diamonds to the value of £30,000, while his sword and belt blazed with precious stones. 

No such gorgeousness is now displayed among English courtiers, but still there is enough to create the impression among the uninitiated that the wearer of the Court fripperies had just escaped from a circus and had not found time to change his clothes. The lack of latitude allowed the men is atoned for by the license given to the women, for so long as the dress has no sleeves and almost no waist, but a lavish abundance of train, the costume may be made according to the fancy of the wearer.

The dresses are uniformly magnificent, and for weeks after a grand drawing-room, the English fashion papers are filled with illustrations of the dresses worn by prominent ladies of the nobility. The name having passed the Lord Chamberlain and being approved by the Queen, the candidate goes in the carriage of her chaperon some hours before the appointed time to the neighborhood of Buckingham Palace. 

The carriage is always an elegant turnout with coachman and footman in white wigs and their smartest liveries ornamented in front with monstrous boutonnieres tied with white satin bows. At the appointed time the carriage finds a place in the line and delivers its precious freight at the Palace door. 

The ladies are shown in droves into anterooms, which in winter, are cold and in summer hot and ill-ventilated. Each applicant must be provided with two large cards having her name clearly written upon each. One is given to the Queen's pages at the Palace door, the other to the Lord Chamberlain, who from it reads the name of the lady being presented. 

After waiting perhaps for several hours the aspirant hears her name called by a page, a couple of gorgeous attendants adjust her train, she is ushered into the royal presence, where she courtesies the requisite number of times, then retires backward, maneuvering her train as best she can while bowing to the earth. The ordeal is over, and she goes away to reflect how foolish it all is, and how she would do it over again every day in the week to attain social pre-eminence or to spite some other woman. — San Francisco, 1891

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Etiquette for Faux Royalty

Women by decree, were supposed to curtsey to Lady Gladstone, as if she were a royal personage. 

Court Etiquette for Colonial Export

A strange, at the same time amusing, problem in the social etiquette of colonial life under the British crown arises in South Africa out of the decree of Lord Gladstone, the first Governor General of the confederation, that on all official occasions, women must curtsey to Lady Gladstone as if she were a royal personage. 

The people of the United South African states arc deeply penetrated with the spirit of democracy. The Boers, especially, are resentful of the imposition of an absurd and belated Court etiquette. An imitation and pale reflex of royalty does not inspire South African worship. 

The plain people of the confederation see in the Governor General's social decree, a survival of the ancient, odious practice which, in the middle ages, constrained the unwilling subject to execute respectful obeisance when he passed in front of the throne, even though that object of grudging reverence might happen to be unoccupied. 

So Lord Gladstone's order is flouted and ridiculed. The Boer ladies, when admitted to "the presence" preserve an unusually upright carriage, and altogether, the social atmosphere is clouded. As the home government relied chiefly on Boer support for the administration, and as General Botha is a member of the cabinet, the measure of Gladstone's statesmanship is seriousiy impaired. 

He was sent to South Africa because he was constantly making official blunders at home. but the sea voyage does not appear to have changed his quality, or improved his judgment. Court etiquette is not a prosperous traveler. —San Francisco Call, 1910

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Royal Etiquette as Court Pest

Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli was the married lover of Lord Byron while he was living in Ravenna, Italy, and writing "Don Juan." Teresa had married Count Guiccioli, and then three days later, she met Lord Byron. A writer herself, she wrote the biographical account "Lord Byron's Life in Italy." Alexandre Dumas included her as a minor character in his novel "The Count of Monte Cristo," using the same disguised name "Countess G-" as Lord Byron did for the Countess in his personal journals.

Court Pests

The pests of the small courts are the importance attached to etiquette and the thin skinnedness and jealousy of the courtiers. Great pests of all courts, but chiefly of the greater, are the hosts of fussy people, humbugs of all kinds and projectors who want to secure royal patronage as a means of advertisement. They are much more likely to get it than the deserving because their instinct tells them how to make their approach. 

Queens are now pestered all over Europe with individuals who imagine money is to be made in getting up unions to secure artistic and literary employment for women. The poor weak things would go to the wall if they were not brought into droves. The larger the drove the greater the number of subscriptions and the better for the drover. 

The Empress Frederick is ready to help feminine unions, but for handicrafts requiring trained skill and talent, and not to get poor scribbling or painting shot into the market. The Queens of Sweden and Denmark are of the same mind. But the Queen of Sweden likes to patronize authoresses on the side of religion and good morals. The Empress of Russia feels her way. 

My maid of honor tells me that the Prince of Wales' daughters are credited in northern courts with shrewdness and insight into the motives of fussy philanthropists. The most pleasant court for maids of honor is that of St. Petersburg. The Countess Gamba Guiccioli was there on a visit and wondered whether there were limits to the liberties of the courtiers. 

One sex is as free as the other. The ladies smoke, skate, dance, take sentimental drives in the long daylike summer nights, flirt with grand dukes or with no matter whom, throw themselves into love, diplomatic, palace and even political intrigues. The latter may lead to Siberia. But the gambling spirit is strong in them. Danger gives zest to enterprise and forbidden fruit is sweetest. —Paris Correspondent for The London Truth, 1896

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Etiquette and American Nobility

 It had been her good fortune to be born in America, where the routine of court etiquette is unknown. 

On a certain occasion, some years since, half a dozen titled ladies were in the anteroom of the German Empress by appointment. Her Majesty was engaged for a time and the audience was delayed beyond the limits of ordinary patience. 

At last one of the restless group remarked in French to her neighbor their prolonged wait was growing irksome, all the more so to her personally because it had been her good fortune to be born in America, where the routine of court etiquette is unknown. 

To her surprise, the lady addressed replied that she also had been born in this country. In a few minutes others joined in the conversation, and it was discovered that the whole company, without exception, though members of that privileged class known in Europe as the nobility, were native Americans. It was a unique incident. — N. Y. Herald, 1887

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Etiquette, Versailles and Louis XIV

“The King's Cutlets — In Olden Times the Company Had to Salute Them”

The revival of a somewhat minute system of etiquette in the German court, and particularly in the adoption of rules for the settlement of the numerous questions of precedence which have come up in connection with the extended journeys of Emperor William II, have led some of the European journals to remind their readers that any modern monarch must be at a great disadvantage in setting up a system of court etiquette, as compared with the kings of two or three centuries ago.

Precedence ruled in all things at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. Even the King's morning toilet was made In the presence of the courtiers, who were continually arriving. As the King put on his outer garments these were handed to him by the noblemen of the highest rank in attendance. 

The story is told that as the King was putting on his waistcoat one morning it was handed to him by a Count, but before the Count had passed the garment to the King a Duke came in. This made it necessary for the Count to hand the waistcoat at once to the Duke, as it would have been against etiquette for a person of lower rank to pass the garment. And as it must be handed with bare hands, the King had to wait while the Duke removed his gloves. When this operation was performed, and the Duke was about to advance with the waistcoat, the door again opened, and a royal Prince of a younger branch of the family entered.

The Duke, of course, at once presented the waistcoat to the newcomer, as he was of higher rank. But the Prince was also gloved, and when he had performed the somewhat tedious operation of ungloving there arrived another Prince, who happened to be of the elder branch. So the unfortunate King had to wait once more, and, as the room was cold, it is recorded that he took a violent chill. 

At King Louis' dinner, when the cook brought in the meat for the royal plate, he was attended by armed soldiers and preceded by a herald, shouting, “Gentlemen, the King's viands.” Whereupon all the company uncovered, and the sentinels saluted, the roast chicken or the royal mutton cutlets.

When the King was about to drink a chamberlain announced the fact at the top of his voice, and two functionaries, whose duty it was to taste the wine or water in order to prove that it had not been poisoned, stepped forward, poured out a little and drank it off. Then the King drank. The great mass of royal formalities and points of etiquette disappeared with the last century, but the rules of precedence are still very strictly observed in royal courts.— News from Philadelphia, 1895

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French Etiquette and Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte outdid Louis XIV when it came to etiquette edicts, while ruling France. 

According to author Dr. Philip Mansel: 

"Napoleon was one of the rudest monarchs in history: he attacked in conversation as well as on the battlefield. He insulted foreign ambassadors, taunted Marshal Berthier, his grand huntsman, and General Caulaincourt, his grand equerry, with their wives’ alleged infidelities, and called Talleyrand, his grand chamberlain (who was also foreign minister), “a lump of shit in a silk stocking”. It was said that Napoleon had a “green laugh”.

Among those who knew him well, Napoleon inspired little personal loyalty: almost all his courtiers turned against him after his defeats in 1814 and 1815, and in both years they forced him to abdicate. Almost all those who followed him to Saint Helena were trying to obtain financial rewards, or material for a book of memoirs, rather than acting out of loyalty. Napoleon maintained court etiquette on the island, keeping courtiers standing in his presence and insisting on being treated as an emperor.

Napoleon’s court also shows him to have been more obsessed with status than other monarchs of the day. He wanted more palaces and more formal etiquette, and was more autocratic than the Bourbons. He had more than 100 chamberlains, and a total of around 3,000 men in his household, whereas Louis XVI had had only four first gentlemen of the chamber, and around 2,000 in his household. In January 1814, when speakers in the chamber of representatives demanded peace, he was infuriated. At a reception in the Tuileries palace, he declared: “Everything resides in the throne. I alone represent the people”. He believed that France needed him more than he needed France.

In June 1815, Napoleon alienated opinion by preferring to wear the elaborate embroidered ‘Petit Costume de l’Empereur’ rather than the uniform of the Paris National Guard. He insisted on sending messages to the chamber of representatives through his chamberlains rather than through a responsible minister. After Waterloo, it voted his deposition."

Etiquette for a Vanderbilt Debutante

“In England, the court circle governs society. Its recognition makes a gentleman or lady out of nobody.”

Throne Room in Buckingham Palace Presentation Day – Where the Money Counts – Getting Into Swell American Society via London

Titled Bankrupts Who Sell Their Court Influence for Round Sums —  Brief Views of Royalty!

From London, May 1896 — This is the particular season of the year when the young American girl whose papa and mamma take her abroad every spring, hopes to acquire the transcendent social distinction of being presented at Court. It gives her something to talk about for the rest of her life, and like an heirloom, she can hand it down to future generations of her family as a badge of greatness.

It means much to an English woman to be presented at court, but to an American it can be scarcely any material value. In England, the Court circle governs society. Its recognition makes a gentleman or lady out of nobody. A Court presentation is an open sesame to society and everything that implies. Naturally it is sought after with great diligence, particularly by people who know that they must overcome mountainous obstacles to reach the acme of their ambition.

London is filled with a class of influential sharks who make a fat income during the season by piloting rich folks into the throne room at Buckingham Palace. It is a sad but true fact that many Americans have permitted themselves to be bitten by these rascals, for the mere pleasure of rubbing shoulders with Royalty for a minute or two and seeing a room full of Princes, Princesses, Dukes and people of lesser titles in gala array.

It is a gorgeous show, and it is generally thought to be worth the price of admission. Even if someone need not be feted for obtaining the rare cards of admission, the function cannot be suitably attended at a cost of much less than one thousand dollars. There are innumerable rules of Court etiquette which must be complied with, and each rule means the expenditure of a goodly some. 
                                                   

“The most notable American presented this spring was the young Duchess of Marlborough, but she did not appear as an American, but as an English Duchess.”

If the presentation function were established for the benefit of the London shopkeepers, it would serve the purpose nobly, as it stimulates trade to a surprisingly healthy degree. The Queen as yet, has not presided at any of the drawing rooms this season, her place generally being taken by the Princess of Wales.

A Notable Presentation


The most notable American presented this spring was the young Duchess of Marlborough, but she did not appear as an American, but as an English Duchess. Socially her position is one of considerable importance, and she's entitled by right to appear at the drawing rooms as often as she pleases. Her influence is also sufficiently great to secure cards of admission for any of her eligible in New York friends, but unfortunately the one whom she would most like to present is debarred by an edict which is seldom waived. This refers to her mother, Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, who was divorced from the Duchess' father, W. K. Vanderbilt. One of the few divorced women ever admitted to the Royal presence is the Marchioness of Blandford who is divorced from the late Duke of Marlborough. It was she who presented her daughter-in-law, the young Duchess, at Court.
                                           

Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, mother of Consuelo Vanderbilt, was barred from cards of admission to London's elite drawing rooms, by an edict which is seldom waived, due to her divorce.

It is a well known bit of gossip that has lived for more than three years that an American millionaire paid $10,000 to an influential, but bankrupt leader of society, for drawing room cards for his wife and two daughters. This man had for many years endeavored to enter the fashionable set of New York and had probably spent $100,000.00 in lavish entertainments in an effort to draw the right people to his house. But on reaching home after the presentation of his family, he discovered that it had open the long closed doors. He has never regretted the $10,000, but sees who fixes all these rules, and his assistants see to it that they are rigorously adhered to.


A Powerful Official


All applications for cards are made to the same gentleman. Such applications are invariably accompanied by an endorsement of some person of note and prominence, otherwise they are ignored. Extreme care is taken that no one whose character is at all doubtful is admitted. The most difficult thing to perform is to leave the Royal presence by backing out of the room. A twelve foot train impedes graceful progress. Usually this part of the program is rehearsed several times before the presentation is made. Everything else is in stereotyped form and is of such simple character that few people commit blunders. 

The name is announced, and on entering the drawing room the newcomer makes a bow. She sees a number of ladies standing under a canopy, and group around them sees man in fanciful Court costume.The person presenting the visitor walks up to where the Queen is standing, and after bowing, low kisses her hand. Her protégé does precisely the same thing, and then the two back out of the room as gracefully as they can. That ends the function as far as they are concerned. There is no conversation and no loitering about in the drawing room. Only the elect are permitted those privileges.—The Los Angeles Herald, 1896

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

Etiquette: An Edwardian Look Back

Even at so late a period as the Restoration, 1660, it was the custom for the guests to take their own knives and forks to an English banquet.

“Old Time Etiquette”

Even at so late a period as the Restoration, 1660, it was the custom for the guests to take their own knives and forks to an English banquet. Pepys records that he did this when he went to the Lord Mayor's feast in the Guildhall. 

In the previous reign, the Lord Chamberlain had found it necessary to issue regulations for the benefit of the officers invited to dine at the royal table. They were required to wear clean boots, not to be half drunk on their arrival, not to drink more than one goblet to every two dishes, not to throw the bones under the table, not to lick their fingers. 

 Mary, Queen of Scots, introduced to the UK, etiquette and customs she had learned in France.

The Stuarts undoubtedly did much to refine English table manners, for it was one of the points admired by Mary Queen of Scots that the customs she introduced from France made her court and royal banquets more exquisite and genteel than those of her rival, Queen Elizabeth. 

As forks came into use, the old-time importance of the table napkin began to wane. From being a necessity it became a luxury, on the fastidious use of which etiquette has at various times placed strange values. Under the third empire in France, St. Beuve brought disgrace upon himself because at breakfast at the Tuilleries he carelessly opened his napkin and placed it over his two knees. To this he added the crime of cutting his egg in two at the middle. 

Etiquette at Versailles and the Tuileries Palace dictated the rules for everything from use of napkins to eating one's eggs.

Court etiquette prescribed that the half-folded napkin should be on the left knee, and the top of the egg was to be merely broken with the edge of the spoon and drained with the tip of the spoon. For his failings in these respects St. Beuve's name was struck off the imperial visiting list.–The Los Angeles Herald, 1909

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

Excited Anglophiles and Lesser Royals

The Duke and Duchess of Teck and family ~ They had four children: Princess Mary, Prince Adolphus, Prince Francis, and Prince Alexander. The couple became an embarrassment for the British Royal Family. Known for leading a lavish lifestyle well beyond their means, they were forced into exile in 1883. To avoid their creditors, they fled abroad to Florence. After settling their debts in October of 1884, they were able to return to White Lodge, their residence in Richmond Park. It was then that Queen Victoria took their eldest daughter, Princess Mary of Teck, under her wing.

“Foolish English in Florence” 

"I hear from Florence that the English in that city are making fools of themselves, anent to the Duke and Duchess of Teck, by insisting upon carrying out all the strictest laws of court etiquette wherever the Teckian Highnesses go. They never think of leaving before them, and there is so wondrous an amount of kissing of hands and prancing backward at evening parties where they are present, that the Florentinos, Russians, and Americans are lost in amazement. These loyal antics may afford the Princess Mary and the Duke a certain amount of amusement, but if persevered in, they will render a residence in Florence unendurable, both to them and to all who are not flunkeys."

From "The London Truth," published January 1884

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

Etiquette and Spain's Coronation of the "Little King"

Alfonso XIII., the Boy King of Spain, whose coronation took place on May 17, 1902 ~ "A Royal reception was held in the Throne-room, where the special Ambassadors from the different European and America States offered their congratulations to the new King. He also, for the first time received the homage of his subjects. The procession to and from the Coronation-room, was of a magnificent mediaeval character, recalling the ancient glories of Spain." From The Northern Star (Lismore, NSW)

The coronation of Alfonso XIII, the boy King of Spain, which is been arranged for his birthday, will mark the majority of the youngest monarch in Europe, sixteen being in the ordinances and Royal etiquette of Spain, the prescribed age majeur. Notable as has ever been such pageantry in Spain, the preparations at Madrid suggest that this event will in all probability exceed in splendor many that have gone before it. 

"The wildest enthusiasm was shown by the people along the route and the King was obliged continually to thrust his head and arms out of the window and acknowledge the applause of his subjects. His naturally pale face was flushed, and it was plain that he was deeply touched by these manifestations of loyalty. Regardless of etiquette, which is nowhere so rigid as in the Spanish court, the members of the Cortes, as he entered, sprang to their feet and broke out into cries of "Long live the King!" The cheering continued for fully ten minutes, during which Alfonso stood calm and cool, unmoved by the excitement which swayed everyone else..." from "The Story of the Greatest Nations," by Charles F. Horne

To realize the surroundings, the pomp, the Oriental splendor characteristic of Spain's Royal ceremonial even into ordinary state functions, climate must be taken into account; and it must not be forgotten that in old days Spain's monarchs -- whatever may have been their shortcomings -- garnered into the Peninsula all that was most precious in the kingdom of art throughout Europe.  

The stately etiquette always rigorously enforced at the Court of Madrid has in nothing degenerated during the Regency of Queen Christina whose Austrian birth and proclivities carried out to the letter the established precedent. Within the palace, the finest residence royalty possesses in Europe, suites of apartments are being prepared, where will be lodged the many princes who come to honor the "Little King". 

On May 17, 1902, young Alfonso XIII, having attained his legal royal majority, was crowned King of Spain, taking the oath as sovereign in the Chamber of Deputies at Madrid under circumstances of mediaeval magnificence. He was King from his birth, having been born after his father's death; but his mother had ruled in his name as regent from his birth. He did not assume his royal functions under the most promising conditions, as revolutionary disturbances and labor troubles continued to keep the public mind in a state of ferment and apprehension. In 1906, Alfonso married Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena) She was a granddaughter of Great Britain's Queen Victoria and the first cousin of King George V of the United Kingdom, Queen Maud of Norway, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Queen Marie of Romania, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Queen Louise of Sweden, and Queen Sophia of Greece. Felipe VI of Spain is her great-grandson. 

       

From the Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, Volume 93

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

Of Etiquette and International Vanities

Charlemagne was served at his repast by subject kings.

On Brussels, there is a very striking picture on this subject. It is the men of the future contemplating the baubles and vanities of the present. They are drawn of gigantic size. In their hands they hold little cannons, stars and garters, flags, and the other insignia of courtly and military glory. How these big men look, to be sure! How keen is their sense of the ridiculous! You feel how hearty is their laugh over such evident petty absurdities! It may be the artist believed that a time would come when such things would be seen in their true light. All we know is that at present that time has not arrived, and that Mr. Marshall's title is, to say the least, a little premature.

Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the holder of jousts and tournaments, the inventor of court courtesy...

For instance, there is the matter of ceremonial, respecting which Dutch and German writers have written at infinite length. It is as old as the hills. Cyrus beheaded two satraps because they omitted to place their hands under their sleeves when they saluted him. Hadrian had a royal household. Charlemagne was served at his repast by subject kings. The subject is divided by learned writers into five main sections; precedence of states, royal honours, diplomatic ceremonials, maritime ceremonials, and etiquette. 

This latter seems to have become developed in Europe in the time and under the reign of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the holder of jousts and tournaments, the inventor of court courtesy, who sought thereby to adorn his house with more glories than kingly monarchs then presented, as a consolation, perhaps, for not possessing their title. His grandchild, Mary of Burgundy, carried the new ideas to her husband Maximilian, and from Austria they passed on again with constant augmentations and freshly devised subtleties to France and Spain. In the latter land it reached its climax. The study of etiquette was three centuries ago the essential study of a Spanish gentleman. 

Maria Anna of Neuburg, Wife of Charles II of Spain, 1690, who fell off her horse, caught her foot in the stirrup, and was thus indecorously suspended in the presence of forty-three courtiers, who gazed in anguish, but stood still, as it was against etiquette for them to aid in such a case...

As an illustration of the extent to which it was carried, our author gives the story of the wife of Charles II., who fell off her horse, caught her foot in the stirrup, and was thus indecorously suspended in the presence of forty-three courtiers, who gazed in anguish, but stood still, as it was against etiquette for them to aid in such a case, and the proper person happened to be somewhere else. A passer-by rushed to the rescue; he received several doubloons for his useful service, but was condemned to banishment for his unpardonable indiscretion. And then there was Philip III, roasted to death because the nobleman whose duty was to put the fire out was away hunting in Catalonia. 

Comte de Maurepas filled the Queen's heart with joy by saying, "Madame, I have the honour to assure your Majesty that the game of piquet was deep mourning." 

French etiquette was almost as absurd as that of Spain. Arm-chairs, backed chairs and stools were, as Voltaire says, “important objects of politics and illustrious subjects of quarrels.” Even the King himself was not free from the etiquette of acting according to regulation. If he condescended to visit a courtier ill in bed, etiquette constrained his Majesty to be down too. Louis XIII visited Richelieu in this way at Tarascon, and Louis XIV did the same when he went to see the Marschal de Villars after he was wounded at Malplacquet. One of the queens did not dare play cards one night because the Court had heard that day of the death of some German Prince that nobody had ever seen. And (Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux) Comte de Maurepas filled her heart with joy by saying, “Madame, I have the honour to assure your Majesty that the game of piquet was deep mourning.”

From “International Vanities,” By Frederic Marshall, Author of “French Home Life,” 1873

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