Blood Princess is Wed on Telly

The first televised British Royal wedding was Princess Margaret’s in 1960. As recently as the late 1930s though, ardent Royalists even argued against broadcasting Royal weddings over the radio as the etiquette had not yet been sorted... It was posited that some men might rudely listen irreverently with their hats on! — “Princess Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon, share a big smile as they dance at a charity ball in the London, Hilton Hotel. The ball was in aid for the Invalid Children’s Association, of which Princess Margaret is President.-1963”

Princess is Wed in Pomp, Popularity

LONDON (UPI) The Princess and the commoner were married today. Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones were as nervous as any other couple, and the Queen Mother wept. And while the bells of London still were pealing their congratulations, the newlyweds sailed away for a tropical honeymoon. In late afternoon, the Royal yacht Britannia, spick and span from an overhauling, took the bride and bridegroom aboard and headed for the Caribbean. There was a family farewell in the graveled court of Buckingham Palace, to which the wedding party had returned after the ceremony at the Abbey. And hundreds of thousands of cheering Britons proved beyond doubt, they approved this marriage performed before Westminister Abbey’s great altar, even if most of Europe’s Royalty stayed home. 

Stricken once with stage fright, the little Princess stumbled over the lines “for better, for worse,” and had to repeat them again after the Archbishop of Canterbury. When she promised to love, cherish and obey the man of her choice, her voice barely was audible. Armstrong-Jones rubbed his thumbs together and nervously fingered his upper lip until the Duke of Edinburgh whispered to him and his serious face broke into a smile. 

Queen Is Serious 

As the Archbishop pronounced them married “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,” a tear trickled down the face of the Queen Mother. Near the Queen Mother sat Queen Elizabeth, far more serious than usual. Once she heaved a deep sigh, and she smiled only twice. That was when Margaret curtsied to her before leaving the Abbey and when Prince Phillip called her attention to the eight little bridesmaids sitting primly on cushions in the aisle of the nave. A wedding day is supposed to belong to the bride. And this one did from the moment when she left Clarence House in the celebrated glass coach, to the time when a cheering crowd ol half a million roared its demand that the newlyweds appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Appear Before Crowd

“We want Margaret and Tony!” the thousands chanted. They appeared on the balcony then. Margaret, a tiny figure, waved, her right hand held high, Armstrong-Jones stood smilingly at her side, obviously amazed at this outburst of affection for the Princess who could have had Kings or Princes, but instead chose a boy from the middle-class neighborhood of Pimlico Road. It was a double triumph for Margaret whose wedding was spurned by most of the top echelon of European Royalty, amid whose happiness during the weeks of the engagement was clouded by gossip and inuendo. Prime Ministers of the British Commonwealth attended the wedding, as well as, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Sir Winston Churchill. A great roar of cheers greeted him as he alighted from his car to enter the Abbey for the wedding. 

Two thousand guests were seated in the Abbey where television sets had been installed to assure that all could see. Never was a wedding watched and listened to by so many persons. In addition to the throngs along the curbstone of London, there was a 13-nation European television broadcast which may have been seen by as many as 350 million Another estimates 250 million listened to a radio broadcast. This was a marriage that ignored many Royal traditions. 

It was the first time a commoner had married a Princess of the ‘Blood Royal’ at the great altar which for 1000 years has been the crowning place of Britain's Kings. Near Queen Elizabeth sat the divorced parents of Armstrong-Jones: Another first for Royalty, which frowns on divorce. Not since Edward VIII abdicated for the love of Wallis Warfield Simpson, has there been so much whispering about a Royal romance. Among top-rank European Royalty, only Queen Ingrid of Denmark accepted the wedding invitation. — May 6, 1960

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

Royals Wed with Etiquette, Excitement

The fresh royal face that added a new dimension to the fascination with England’s Royal Family... Sarah Ferguson.

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The first televised British royal wedding was Princess Margaret’s in 1960. As recently as the late 1930s though, ardent royalists even argued against broadcasting royal weddings over the radio as the etiquette had not yet been sorted... It was posited that some men might rudely listen irreverently with their hats on!

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When the reporters managed to locate the Royal bride to be at a Caribbean hotel where she had gone for a secluded, pre-wedding vacation last month, she neutralized them by sending champagne to their table. They all immediately ceased snooping to write stories instead ... a combination of media hype, the inherent attraction of a royal romance and the emergence of the 26-year-old bride as an unusually receptive, fresh royal face has added a new dimension to this nation’s fascination with its Royal Family.

Photo source—Andrew and Sarah in Townsville, 1988, Queensland State Archives • CC BY 3.0 au

This sleepy farming village goes back 900 years, but no one who lives here doubts that Wednesday will be its greatest day— the day a local girl becomes a princess. A British Army parachute display team will drop into the village, 50 miles southwest of London, a brass band will march, television teams will film and, about the time that Ronald Ferguson’s daughter, Sarah, arrives at Westminster Abbey to marry Prince Andrew, most of Dummer’s 350 residents will be down at the Queen Inn enjoying one of the biggest feasts ever. “It’s started to get a bit crazy,” admitted John Holland, who owns the inn, the village’s only pub. “Americans here yesterday, Belgians tomorrow and then next week some Japanese. Still, it’s exciting to live a bit of history.”

Wedding Mania


Royal wedding mania may not be quite so intense elsewhere in Britain, but almost. No public holiday has been declared for the wedding, only a few heads of state are included on a comparatively modest guest list of 1,700— Prince Charles and Princess Diana had more than 2,000— and Westminster Abbey is smaller than St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Charles and Diana were married. But a combination of media hype, the inherent attraction of a royal romance and the emergence of the 26-year-old bride as an unusually receptive, fresh royal face has added a new dimension to this nation’s fascination with its Royal Family. “It’s helped keep the show going,” commented Robert Houston, editor of Royalty Monthly, a glossy pictorial magazine devoted exclusively to coverage of the Royal Family. That it has.

Daring Secrets

The country’s popular tabloid press, true to its style of packaging royalty as a real-life soap opera, has wallowed in the festivities, trumpeting endless “exclusives” about Ferguson’s innermost thoughts, revealing daring secrets of the wedding gift list and employing marriage counselors to mull over the couple’s compatibility.

The Daily Mirror recently joined in the spirit of the occasion by dressing its daily page-three pinups in wedding veils— and little else. The royal couple’s image smiles out from every conceivable piece of printed matter, from horoscope and crossword-puzzle magazine covers to specially issued 12- and 17-pence commemorative stamps. Last Thursday, Madame Tussaud’s wax museum installed a lifelike figure of Ferguson.

The new bride’s name —or nickname, “Fergie”— has been attached to perfume (Fergie— A Fragrance of Today), a cocktail (Fergie’s Fizz) and tours (the Fergie tour of London— including stops at her home, her office at an art publishing firm, her father’s office and Westminster Abbey). Agricultural machinery producer Massey Ferguson has even linked her name to a tractor ad that says: “I love my Fergie.”

Debrett’s, the London publisher of a reference book on etiquette for royal occasions, has established a telephone service for participants unsure of how to get through the royal events. Among the advice given to date: Men should leave swords at home, polish those parts of the soles of their shoes that don’t touch the ground and forget buttonhole flowers— the latter are only for ushers and families. “We’ve had about 30 calls a day, mainly on matters of dress,” noted one of the advisers, Charles Kidd. For those in the business of promoting royalty, the wedding has produced a boom in times that were already seen as plentiful.

Announcing their engagement in 1973 —Captain Mark Phillips, a confirmed bachelor, not only faced the daunting prospect of marriage when he fell in love with Princess Anne, but he knew he would also have to conform to some of the restricting etiquette rules of royalty. In an interview two days before their wedding, Phillips was asked whether he was warned about the responsibilities that devolve on those connected with, and marrying into, the royal family. Looking at Princess Anne, who sat at his side in Buckingham Palace during the interview, Phillips said: “Yes, I think she did try to explain.” The Princess added: "Of course, if you have lived in one way all your life, you cannot imagine anything different.” But, she added comfortingly, it could not be worse than the persistent attention they got from reporters and photographers when they were competing in horse shows and denying the fact they were so often together, meant there was a serious romance. 

Boon for Circulation

Editor Houston says Royalty Monthly’s pre-wedding issue has run to double its normal 30,000 circulation, and a post-wedding special edition is expected to sell three times the normal number. Another magazine devoted to Royal Family affairs, titled Majesty, hopes to sell 150,000 copies of its wedding issue, twice its normal circulation, plus an even larger number of a special wedding album. “For us, the wedding is especially wonderful,” said Ingrid Seward, Majesty editor. That such mania surrounds the marriage of someone fourth in line for succession— Andrew comes behind brother Charles and his two sons, William and Henry— reflects the unique link that still binds the British public to their Royal Family.

‘Mindful of Heritage’

“We’re a society mindful of its heritage,” commented Nigel Dempster, who, as the country’s best-known gossip columnist, devotes much of his efforts to revealing royal tidbits. “We’ve all lived together for a thousand years, and if a member of royalty marries, we all celebrate together.” But the fever extends far beyond Britain. Americans at a rate of two per minute are dialing overseas into brief recorded messages providing details of the present royal wedding and the history of previous ones. (The number: XXX-XX-XX-LOVE-XXX)

Britain’s tourist industry has latched onto the wedding to revive fortunes depressed by fears of terrorism and a weak dollar. The Berkeley Hotel, for example, has reported a brisk response for its $4,200 weeklong package featuring champagne lunch from a terrace overlooking the wedding procession route. The wedding will also be televised live to 32 countries and a global audience estimated at about 300 million, including, for the first time, viewers in China.

Titled Commentators

Four American television networks will transport their stars across the Atlantic and transmit the wedding live. Each has employed several, preferably titled, expert commentators to lend authority to its coverage. The networks will be able to use a remote-controlled camera placed above and in front of the couple, enabling viewers to see royal faces at the alter of the famous abbey.

Although wedding planners at Buckingham Palace initially argued that the actual exchange of vows was too intimate a moment to expose to the face-on camera, they agreed last week to permit its unrestricted use. Now producers have expressed worries that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert A.K. Runcie, who will officiate at the wedding, may block the camera’s view at the crucial moment. The decision to allow the face-on camera reflects the gradual easing of the restraints that once surrounded such grand occasions.

Listening With Hats On

The first televised royal wedding was Princess Margaret’s in 1960. As recently as the late 1930s, ardent royalists even argued against broadcasting royal weddings over radio because some men might listen irreverently with their hats on.

Exposure has brought popularity, affection and a curiosity that has spawned an insatiable appetite among Britons for news about the “Royals.” No detail about the royal wedding is too small to report, no morsel about the royal couple too insignificant to savor, no topic too small for discussion and controversy. Ferguson’s preference for the traditional wedding vows “to love, honor and obey,” instead of the “love, honor and cherish” promised by her good friend Diana, touched off a debate that extended into Parliament.

Labor Criticism

“If Fergie wanted to give a lead to modern women, this is not the way,” stated opposition Labor member of Parliament Clare Short. Conservative member Ann Winterton disagreed. “I vowed to obey my husband, and he thinks I do obey him,” she revealed. Predictably, news accounts quickly reported that waves of British brides-to-be were deciding to “obey” rather than “cherish.”

Speculation about the style of Ferguson’s wedding dress has also bordered on a national pastime, with rumors about how she plans to disguise hips that the tabloid press has unkindly reported at up to 42 inches. The Mail on Sunday predicted a beaded dress with a bustle at the back, while competitor News of the World claimed that the dress will sport a large bow.

New Trend Expected

Chelsea designer Lindka Cierach, who is making the dress, predicts nothing except that it will set a trend. With the likes of garment manufacturer Sidney Ellis around, that projection seems safe. Ellis is poised to copy Ferguson’s dress and have it in the display windows of Debenham’s, a London department store, within hours of the wedding. He already has 20 orders, sight unseen, for the dress, which he estimates will cost a maximum of $1,400. Copies of Princess Diana’s wedding dress are still selling five years after her wedding, he said.

Midweek Wedding

Wednesday’s wedding has also proven an ideal excuse for Britain’s tabloids to review past sexual exploits of the prince they nicknamed “Randy Andy.” The Daily Mirror recently draped a semi-nude photograph of American soft-porn actress Koo Stark over several columns to help illustrate an article on Andrew headlined, “Farewell My Lovelies.” Stark was widely reported to have been one of the prince’s girlfriends. “I think the palace is very relieved to have him married off,” commented Houston.

But the bulk of media coverage has focused on the bride as the new royal face.
Quickly dubbed “Fergie” by the British press, Ferguson has so far handled the pressure of constant, intense media coverage with an ease that has won admiration even from veteran royals watchers.

Relaxed, Uninhibited

“There hasn’t been a (royal) bride more relaxed and uninhibited,” stated Godfrey Talbot, who was the British Broadcasting Corp.'s court correspondent for more than four decades before his recent retirement. “She a nice girl who’s given a lot of hope to other girls with red hair and freckles,” said Dempster. Many believe her relative maturity and extensive travel have given her a confidence and ability to deal with pressure that Diana, as a 19-year-old bride, lacked. Although a commoner, she has frequently mingled with royalty because her father, a former cavalry officer, works as Prince Charles’ polo manager.

Unruffled by Critics

She has remained unruffled in the face of biting criticism from fashion commentators complaining of her lack of taste in clothes, ruminating how best she should hide a figure that the more discreet refer to as “Rubenesque,” and by comments about her divorced mother’s husband. He is an Argentine polo player referred to in the press as “The Awkward Guest” because of Britain’s lack of diplomatic ties with Argentina since the two countries went to war over the Falkland Islands in 1982.

Whereas Diana broke into tears after constant press hounding, Ferguson has managed to charm the so-called “rat-pack” of tabloid reporters into submission. When the reporters managed to locate Ferguson at a Caribbean hotel where she had gone for a secluded, pre-wedding vacation last month, she neutralized them by sending champagne to their table. They all immediately ceased snooping to write stories instead about their “exclusive” champagne encounter with the future princess. Despite the clamor for news about the royal bride-to-be, the British media have so far failed to sensationalize stories about Ferguson’s previous loves.

Affairs Mentioned

Her affairs with racing driver manager Paddy McNally and businessman Kim Smith-Bingham are occasionally mentioned in passing, but rarely in a negative context. “Today’s 26-year-old with two serious past boyfriends is the virgin of 1947, the year the Queen married,” the London Observer, a Sunday newspaper, commented. Some argue that the subject is too sensitive even for scandal-thirsty British tabloids, but others claim that the tabloids have simply been unable to persuade the two men to discuss their relationships with the future princess. “Believe me,” said Majesty editor Seward, “if they could, they’d love nothing better than to print every detail of those stories.” — By Tyler Marshall, Times Staff Writer, Dummer England, July 1986

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

Etiquette and a Mixed-Race Queen

Portrait of Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, from the National Galleries of Scotland – King George III and wife Charlotte, England’s mixed-race Queen, had 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. During her first years as Queen, the former German Princess, Charlotte had some difficulty in adapting to the life of the British royal court. A strained relationship with her mother-in-law, Princess Augusta, didn’t help matters. Augusta made it difficult for Charlotte to establish social contacts by insisting on rigid royal court etiquette. She also initially appointed many of Charlotte's staff, and several were suspected of reporting on Charlotte's behavior, to her mother in-law. When Charlotte turned to her German companions for solace, she was criticized for “keeping favorites.” Regarding Queen Charlotte’s partial African ancestry, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, David Buck, was quoted by the Boston Globe as saying, “It is a matter of history, and frankly, we've got far more important things to talk about.” Indeed!

Royal Courtships Which Lacked Real Romance

The romantic wooing of the King of Spain reminds one how rarely the element of romance has been associated with royal marriages. What could have been more brutally inconsiderate than the arrangements for the marriage of Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III? This Princess, just 17, was selected as consort for the King of England. Her life at Mecklenburg, writes Lady Violet Greville, had hitherto been of the simplest. She dressed “en robe de chambre” every day except Sunday, when she put on her best gown and drove out in a coach and six. The Ambassador sent to demand her hand having arrived, she was told nothing of his mission, merely that she was to dine downstairs that night for the first time. “Mind what you say, ‘et ne faites pas l’enfant’,” was the warning of her eldest brother. After dinner, at which she was naturally very shy, she beheld the saloon illuminated, a table and two cushions prepared for a wedding. Some kind of ceremony then took place; she was embraced by her family, and presented by the Ambassador with a beautiful parure of diamonds, including the little Crown of diamonds which so often appears in her portraits. She was pressed for an immediate departure, but pleaded for the respite of a week, in order to take leave of everybody. During this time she ran about visiting the poor and the little garden of medical herbs, fruit and flowers which she cultivated herself for the benefit of the poor. She afterward introduced the same practice at Kew and Richmond.

The poor little bride suffered a terrible crossing to Harwich, the Royal yacht being nearly driven on the coast of Norway. The Duchesses of Ancaster and Hamilton, sent to conduct the Princess to England, were both much indisposed, but Charlotte herself remained quite well and cheered the company by singing Luther's hymns to her harpischord in her cabin with the door open. Arriving in London at about 3 o'clock, having traveled since 12, she was met by the King in the garden of St. James’ Palace. Attempting to kneel, she was caught by the enthusiastic Monarch, who embraced her kindly and nearly carried her upstairs. That very evening the wedding ceremony took place. Horace Walpole writes of the new Queen: “She looks very sensible, cheerful and is remarkably, genteel” (that favorite epithet of the period). “Her tiara of diamonds was very pretty, her stomacher sumptuous, her violet velvet mantle and ermine so heavy that her clothes were dragged almost down to her waist.” The wedding over and supper not being ready, the Queen sat down and obligingly played and sang to her harpsichord. The royal party never separated till between 3 and 4 in the morning, no slight trial for a bride of 17 who had employed the few moments she passed in her room after her arrival in trying on her wedding gown and the rest of her trousseau. When first she caught sight of the Palace she became very nervous, and, being told that she was to be married that evening, she, in fact, fainted in the carriage. The Duchess of Hamilton, one of the beautiful Miss Gunnings, smiling at her fears, Charlotte said: “You may laugh— you have been married twice — but to me it is no joke.” It is pleasant to think that after being so highly tried, Charlotte's married life proved perfectly happy. 

Very different was the arrival of Catherine of Braganza, who, when first seen by Charles II, was laid up with a cough and a little fever in bed. He was not favorably impressed by his new Consort and remarked as much to his attendants. Elizabeth Farnese, who married the King of Spain, son of Louis XIV of France, as his second wife, celebrated her arrival in Spain by quarreling with, and summarily dismissing the lady in waiting sent to receive her, the famous Princess des Ursins, who had ruled the late Queen, and by whom she herself had been chosen successor. Elizabeth's future life was passed in slavish attendance on her husband that she might secure her influence over him and prevent any state affairs being transacted without her knowledge. Twenty minutes only of the day and night was she permitted to be alone. Elizabeth was an ardent sportswoman and followed the King even at the chase; the rest of her existence was passed in a routine of arduous etiquette and monotony. 

George IV's reception of his bride, Caroline of Brunswick, is well known— how the blue-eyed, bouncing, buxom girl was implored by Lord Malmesbury to be very particular about her talk and her toilet; how the Prince pretended to be overcome at their first meeting and called for a dram of brandy, and how the Princess afterward declared that he was drunk on her wedding night. Not much chance of happiness there! Until quite recently very, little liberty was accorded to Princesses. Queen Charlotte, even after her marriage, was for several years in thraldom to the dowager Princess of Wales and denied all diversion and pleasures. She told Miss Burney that even her jewels had ceased to dazzle and interest her. “Believe me,” she said, “it is the pleasure of a week, a fortnight, at most, and then returns no more.” One of her greatest griefs, and one which caused her bitter tears, was the determination of her mother-in-law that Charlotte should wear her jewels when she received the sacrament for the first time after she became Queen. She had promised her own mother never to do this— it was an act of humility which had been strictly inculcated on her; and it proceeded from the game devotional impulse which caused King George to take off his Crown when he knelt at the altar during the Coronation. 

The courtship of Queen Victoria brings us into a pleasanter atmosphere. On Prince Albert’s first visit to England she liked and appreciated him at once, and his tastes agreed with hers. “Every grace had been showered by nature on this charming boy,” says Baron Stockman of him at this time. The Baron judged him critically, calmly and impartially until he finally became his most attached and devoted friend and adviser. Queen Victoria and her cousin met at first unconscious of the object of their acquaintance, and when the desired impression had been produced, the young Prince, like a second Sir Galahad, was sent away to travel and fit himself by study and careful education for his great position. On his return to England the Queen writes: “Albert's beauty is most striking, and he is most amiable and unaffected — in short, fascinating.” 

The young couple were genuinely in love, and the Queen informed Lord Melbourne that the conquest of her heart was complete. So serious, so dignified, so studious and so excellent a young man would infuse an element of poetry and deep feeling into his love making; but by the rules of etiquette the proposal itself had to come from the young Queen, whose maidenly modesty was somewhat embarrassed at the prospect. She summoned him to her boudoir, where he found her alone. After some desultory talk due to her shyness, she suddenly said: “Could you forsake your country for me?” The Prince answered by clasping her in his arms. In such simple fashion did a young Sovereign, woo and win the husband of her choice. – Los Angeles Herald, 1906

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

Spanish Royal Etiquette History

The Gainsborough Hat was also known as a “Picture Hat” or “Merry Widow” and it has fallen in and out of fashion, several times, since the 18th Century 

Princess Ena Favors Big Headgear

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 New Hats Are Big Gainsboroughs — Won't Look at Cute Effects at All

LONDON— The Princess Ena is buying most of her trousseau in London. Court etiquette demands that the bride of the King of Spain must have her wedding dress woven and made in Spain, so the rich white brocade is being woven on Spanish looms, and the dress will be embroidered by the girls of Madrid. After the wedding, the dress will be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which is also a traditional ceremony in the court of Spain. A few smart little frocks have been ordered in Paris, but most of the wedding outfits will be made in London. 

The Irish Ladies' Industry association has secured almost a monopoly of the orders for lingerie, etc. The bride's hats are being made by Gainsborough, the main milliner, who has made the Princess Ena's hats since she put off baby bonnets, they are almost all made according to the Spanish taste— big picture hats with enormous ostrich feathers. The smart little hat of the early 60s, which is the fad in this country now, is not at all the thing in England or anywhere on the continent except in Paris. — Los Angeles Herald, 1906

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

Royal Wedding Etiquette Details

Ena, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, had irritated her Battenberg cousins by waving all too regally from the carriage at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, so they were not at all surprised when Ena married the King of Spain. King Edward VII, thus needed to elevate her to the rank of Royal Highness prior to the ceremony. At the wedding, an assassin attempted to blow up the bridal carriage in which the newly wedded royal pair were returning to the palace. A bomb was lobbed from a third floor window, engulfing the carriage in smoke. The new Queen's bridal gown was spattered with the blood of a decapitated guardsman. Twenty-four men were killed, more than 100 wounded, and the future King George V noted ruefully in his diary that lunch was delayed until well after 3 pm.!

Alfonso's Wedding Plans
In Accordance With Spanish Etiquette

Will Send an Envoy to Ask the Hand

of Princess Ena of Battenberg

Special Cable to The Herald—

LONDON, Feb. 3.— Already interest is being manifested in the forthcoming marriage of King Alfonso and Princess Ena of Battenberg. The preliminaries, will, in accordance with Spanish etiquette, be as follows:

An ambassador extraordinary with plenary powers will come to England to demand the hand of the princess. The matrimonial contract will be drawn up, read and signed in London. It will be ratified by King Edward and King Alfonso.

It is practically certain that Princess Ena will enter Spain from the north at Iran, where she will be met  by the Chief Majordomo of the palace in behalf of King Alfonso, as well as municipal and military authorities and the British ambassador, who will first present Princess Ena and her mother, and then their suite, to the Spanish authorities.

The Princess and her mother will then proceed to the palace at El Pardo, seven miles from Madrid, where they will remain for six days before the wedding. They will then be met there by King Alfonso and the Queen mother. Two days before the wedding there will be a solemn reading of the marriage treaty, which is practically equivalent to a betrothal.

On the wedding day, the Princess will leave El Pardo early, in strict incognito, without escort of any kind. King Alfonso and two adjutants on horseback will join her in the neighborhood of El Pardo and accompany her to the entrance of the city. The Princess will then be robed in a building which has not yet been selected, where the trousseau will have been exhibited. She will preserve her incognito until she enters the gala carriage to go to the church.

According to the etiquette of the Spanish court, all the articles of the trousseau will be exhibited, even to the most minute details of the household linen. The dresses will be on lay figures and the jewelry and other articles in glass cases under the care of halberdiers. Entrance to the exhibition will be free to all classes. — The Los Angeles Herald, Feb. 1906

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