Spain’s Victoria’s Etiquette at Home

Victoria found the company at her husband’s dinner table somewhat mixed at first. The exuberant young King would sit anywhere and invite almost any one. But his bride soon changed the etiquette and abolished indiscriminate gatherings – Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain by Kaulak – Public domain image of Queen Victoria of Spain

Quite tactfully and skillfully, the young Queen is playing her part. Like her famous Royal grandmother, she is a very early riser, and her English breakfast of ham, roast beef and poached eggs, alone with the King, is one of the pleasantest functions of the day. After his cigarette, with which Alphonso concludes even this early meal, he must need repair to his state duties; and in the ordinary way, they do not meet again until lunch time.  

Victoria found the company at her husband’s dinner table somewhat mixed at first. The exuberant young King would sit anywhere and invite almost any one. But his bride soon changed the etiquette and abolished indiscriminate gatherings – not forgetting, however, that certain high functionaries and prelates have the right of access to the royal table. – Harper’s Bazar, 1908

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Etiquette and the Restive King

“He loves horses, and every moment that he can contrive to escape from the confining duties of his position as King he spends on the race track, or in the company of jockeys, bookmakers and the general run of race-goers. Then, he is like a boy, free from the straint of home or school, a man among men, a good fellow…” Alphonso “would hie him with his family to some South American republic, to raise horses and forget Madrid. He would flee from his Queen mother, a strict follower of the Royal Code of the House of Hapsburg and a stickler for the letter of the rule and every word of tradition in regard to court functions.” 

Uneasy rests the head that wears the crown of Spain. Alfonso, harassed by politics and bored by the formalities and limitations of Court etiquette, longs to doff the glittering symbol of authority and become a private gentleman. He could be a horse breeder and trainer. He loves horses, and every moment that he can contrive to escape from the confining duties of his position as King he spends on the race track, or in the company of jockeys, bookmakers and the general run of race-goers. Then, he is like a boy, free from the straint of home or school, a man among men, a good fellow. 

He knows whereof he speaks when horses form the subject of his discourse, whereas, alas, even the wisest wearer of the purple cannot always be sure that he knows what he is talking about when he gives oracular utterance to his decisions upon affairs of state. So he would hie him with his family to some South American republic, to raise horses and forget Madrid. He would flee from his Queen mother, a strict follower of the Royal Code of the House of Hapsburg and a stickler for the letter of the rule and every word of tradition in regard to court functions. 

But the addition of a real Spanish King to a South American republic is something not to be contemplated lightly. No place in South America that we know of could be trusted to maintain its republican equilibrium a day after he had taken up his abode there. A Monarchist party would be formed on the night of his arrival, and a revolution would be afoot the following morning. The United States, in the interest of peace, would have to ship poor, weary Alfonso back to Spain and its surfeit of pomp and ceremony. – Chico Record, 1920

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

A Royal Nursery in Spain

An engagement card featured Alfonso in uniform with his helmet and sword and his then fiancé, Victoria Eugenie. The Spanish Royal Court was considered the most confining in the world concerning etiquette, far surpassing the French Royal Court’s strict etiquette at Versailles. Evidently, the Royal nursery was the only area not controlled by a detailed list of rules of Royal decorum.  — “People who know Spain from books will tell you with bated breath of the cast-iron etiquette that surrounds the royal personage of Spain, of dreadful dinners eaten in solemn silence, of bows to the left and curtsies to the right, of mace-bearers and cup-bearers and sword-bearers, of orders of precedence...”

A Royal Nursery

The little heir to the Spanish throne has begun his babyhood in a suite of rooms arranged entirely after the fancy of his royal mother. Spanish etiquette requires her to conform to ideas other than her own on most points, but in the fitting of the nursery her word is law. The furnishing, decorating and entire arrangement are English, and offer everything that could possibly conduce to a baby’s health and happiness. The suite, directly over the Queen’s apartments, on the sunny side of the palace, consists of living room, dining room, bedrooms for the baby and head nurse, bath and sewing room. The living room is decorated in green and white, with showers of pink rosettes. 

The vaulted celling is enamelled in white, and round the walls runs a frieze of animals in Noah’s Ark-like procession. Eight green shades temper the sunshine. The angles of furniture walls are all softly rounded; so the approved method of standing a naughty child in the corner face to the wall could hardly be adopted in this case. With the exception of the rose colored English carpets, everything in the suite is washable. The wide window sills are coziily cushioned; an iron lattice, light and lacelike, but very strong, secures the windows from without. In the bedroom, three large paintings represent “Morning.” “Noon” and “Night.” The first is a sunshiny picture of a baby awakening in his little bed. "Noon” shows him busy with porringer and spoon: and in “Night” he has folded his chubby hands in prayer before going to sleep. The woodwork is white enamelled, and round the celling a frieze of dancing children charms the eye, as do the exquisite tint and design of the blue and white tiling of the fireplace. 

The little Prince sleeps in the cradle that rocked father and grandfather before him. It is a stately affair, resting on four Corinthian supports. It was formerly curtained in the richest lace, flowing from beneath a Spanish crown, but the young Queen mother had the crown removed, lest it fall and injure the royal sleeper below; and the lace curtains were, suppressed to allow freer access of air. The cradle linen shows embroidery of fairy like fineness, the other coverlets being sewn with butterflies and roses in white silk. The dining room furniture is white mahogany, with the royal arms of Spain skillfully inlaid in each piece. Throughout simplicity and good taste distinguish this ideal dwelling for a young child. The rooms are considered the best ventilated in all Madrid, for the young Queen inherits her love of fresh air from her illustrious grandmother, the late Queen Victoria of England.—Youth’s Companion, 1907

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Spanish Royal Birth Etiquette

“If the child is a boy, the Spanish flag will be hoisted on the Palace and a salute of twenty-one guns will be fired. If it is a girl, a white flag will be run up and a salute of fifteen guns will be fired. If the event occurs at night, an electric light in the national colors will he displayed on the Palace for a boy, and of white light for a girl.”

As Stork Arrives, Guns Will Roar – Royalty to Welcome the New Heir 

Elaborate Preparations Being Made to Receive the Future Prince or Princess of the Spanish Throne

MADRID, April 4.— The royal decree just issued, with the details of the ceremony of the presentation of the heir to the Spanish throne at the moment of its birth, prescribes that the court officials shall be present, also the ministers, the presidents of the two chambers, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, the captain general, the commission of the Asturias and representatives of civil and military corporations. Members of the diplomatic corps will also be invited to attend the ceremony.

If the child is a boy, the Spanish flag will be hoisted on the Palace and a salute of twenty-one guns will be fired. If it is a girl, a white flag will be run up and a salute of fifteen guns will be fired. If the event occurs at night, an electric light in the national colors will he displayed on the Palace for a boy, and of white light for a girl. All of the customary decrees ordering a general amnesty, the release of prisoners condemned for minor offenses and the bestowal of recompenses and decorations upon various persons have been prepared.

How Guests Will Dress

The decree directs attention to the remarkable publicity given in accordance with the etiquette of the Spanish court to the intimate affairs of the Royal family. As soon as evident signs of approaching confinement are noticed, those invited to attend the ceremony must hasten to the Palace, the men attired in uniform and the women in court dress.They must wait in the ante chamber until the infant is presented. 

With the least possible delay the baby is dressed and placed in a basket standing on a golden salver. The King takes the basket, holding the child in his hands and followed by members of the Royal family, enters in where the presentation ceremony is held. Raising the veil over the infant's face, the King says:

“I present to you my beloved son or daughter, the successor to the throne of Spain, the Prince, or Princess of the Asturias, to whom my dear spouse has just given birth.”

Then the Minister of Justice as the principal notary of the realm approaches and views the face of the child and all those invited file past. As soon as the presentation is ended. a solemn Te Deum is sung in the royal chapel. – By the Associated Press, April 1907

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

Royal Baby Eases Etiquette Woes

In 1906, King Alfonso of Spain 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. 

Queen Eugenie is Homesick 

August 28.—Unable to endure her homesickness longer, Victoria Eugenie, the young Queen of Spain, has just cabled to her mother Princess Henry of Battenberg, that she will pay her a visit as soon as the formalities of the Spanish court will allow. The Queen has been very depressed lately, according to friends of her mother, who say the daily letters from Madrid show how severely she feels the restraint imposed by Castilian etiquette. If it were not for her baby, it is said, she would be inconsolable. 

According to the rules of the court, the Queen must be attended everywhere she goes by her Ladies in Waiting. This annoys her exceedingly, and accounts for her recent interest in golf. This exercise. and brisk walks, invariably give her a little time to herself, as the true Spanish lady is too indolent to exert herself. King Alfonso has expressed every sympathy for his Royal wife, and just as soon as their engagements will permit, he will come to England with her. Besides paying a visit to the Princess on the Isle of Wight, they probably will be the guests of the Duke and Duchess of Portland at Walbeck Abbey. – London, 1907

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

Royal Spanish Etiquette Traditions

From the birth of a Spanish King until his death, the Spanish Monarch is never free from the bonds of an etiquette which has survived from time immemorial, and, up to date as he is, young Alfonso XIII cannot wholly shake himself free.

The Court of Spain

In almost every court in Europe the strictness of old-fashioned etiquette has of late, been greatly relaxed. The Hapsburgs, however, cling to their ancient customs, and at the Courts of Austria and Spain much of the quaint old ceremonial survives. From the birth of a Spanish King until his death, the Spanish Monarch is never free from the bonds of an etiquette which has survived from time immemorial, and, up to date as he is, young Alfonso XIII cannot wholly shake himself free. 

When a baby Prince is born at the Court of Spain, the Prime Minister must be present, or is hastily sent for; also the Presidents of the Congress and the Senate; the Commander of the Royal Halberdiers, to whom is entrusted the guarding of the Royal family within the Palace. The chief doctor then dresses the baby, and, placing the poor little atom upon an enormous silver salver, bears him in state to the father, who is waiting in the ante-chamber. “Sir, it is an infante (Prince),” he says gravely. The father, with equal gravity, takes the salver, raises it, and shows it to all present, then kisses the baby, and the odd little ceremony is over.

“DON'T TOUCH THE KING!”

No one beneath the rank of a Noble may personally attend the King of Spain, nor by any means, touch his sacred person. About twelve years ago, little Alfonso, running carelessly downstairs, stumbled, and took a regular dive towards the bottom. A footman, with great presence of mind, opened wide his arms and caught the child unhurt. He had saved the little Prince's bones, but had broken the rules of Court etiquette. Therefore, he lost his place. But it is satisfactory to learn that the Queen-Mother saw that the poor fellow did not suffer. She thanked him, and pensioned him handsomely.

All his life through the King is guarded by a special body of picked men. Tradition requires that these shall be drawn from the town of Espinosa. All night, they patrol the corridor outside his room, and at certain intervals the officer in charge glances through a secret panel to see that his youthful Majesty is well and safe. The men wear full armor, and— curious contrast! —felt slippers.

By right of birth, the King of Spain is a canon of Leon Cathedral, and, by a curious old unwritten law originating no one knows how, each member of the chapter must, on his first visit to the cathedral, jump over a small gate in one of the cloisters. As may be imagined, this was one of the few points of custom which thoroughly appealed to young Alfonso. He carried out the very letter of the law by a really splendid jump, for slight and delicate as he looks, the King is very athletic.

GOOD FOR THE SERVANTS

In old days nothing that had appeared on the Royal table was ever seen a second time. From the wax candles to the unopened bottles of wine, all was the perquisite of the underlings. The Queen-Mother has changed all this, and waste is at an end. To such an extreme has economy been carried that during his minority, the young King's allowance was but five pounds a month. A Spanish Coronation is a more simple ceremony than might be imagined. An odd point about it is that just behind the head of the procession, are led twelve riderless horses in full Royal trappings. There is no crown used in Spanish Coronations. The ceremonial attending the funeral of a Spanish King is the strangest of its kind, in existence. 

The Royal tomb is situated in the Escurial— that strange old place which lies some distance, away from Madrid, and fully 8000 feet above sea level. The procession movea on foot out of Madrid, and rests one night upon the way. In the morning, the Lord Chamberlain stands by the coffin and cries, “Is your Majesty pleased to proceed upon your journey?” A short silence, and then they move on. When the casket is at last placed in the vault, its final destination, the same official unlocks it, kneels down, and calls loudly: “Señor! Señor! Señor! ” Again a solemn pause. “His Majesty does not reply,” says the Chamberlain. “Then it is true. The King is dead!” He locks the coffin, breaks his staff of office in pieces, and all is over. – Los Angeles Herald, 1906 

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

Hat Etiquette of Spain’s Nobility

The young Spanish King presenting the heir to the throne, to the Grandees and other dignitaries assembled.

Grandees of Spain...

Curious Hat Etiquette That Mark Their Three Classes 

A Grandee of Spain enjoys the privilege, granted him many hundreds of years ago, of remaining “covered” in the presence of his Sovereign. This custom dates from the period when, according to the theory then held, the King was “the first among equals.” The ancient formula, always at the Coronation of the Kings of old Spain was, “We, your equals, choose you to reign over us.” And the King assented in this declaration of his Nobles. 

There was a time when all Grandees of Spain wore their hats in the presence of the King, but in time, the idea of caste began to prevail even among the Grandees, with the result that they were eventually divided into three classes, and these classes were distinguished by the hat etiquette. The first class entered the Royal presence covered; the second class entered uncovered, and, after an advance of a few steps, put on their hats, unbidden by the King, and the third class also entered uncovered, but did not “cover” until requested to do so by the King. Then, according to the etiquette, “all were equal.”

There have been Grandees who were not Spaniards, notably the Duke of Wellington, upon whom the Cortes conferred the honor in recognition of his services to the State. – Mariposa Gazette, 1918

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Rigid Royal Spanish Etiquette

Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was Queen of Spain as the wife of King Alfonso XIII

A Nurse for the Baby Prince

Many say the etiquette of the Royal Spanish Court rivaled that of the French Court of Versailles. They may be correct, but then again they may have been on par for Royal Courts of the day. The January 19th report from a London newspaper tells us, “The Madrid correspondent of the Standard says that Spain's Queen Victoria wants to nurse her coming baby herself, but will not be allowed to do so, because it is contrary to Spanish etiquette. An English nurse has been engaged.” – 1907

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

********************

 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

Lovers' Tech Skirt's Etiquette

How the newest technological marvel aided in elminating the Spanish royal court etiquette of the era, and romance flourished...

The modern, 19th century technology allowed a Spanish King to get the better of the traditional and implacable etiquette of a court where he couldn't get an egg boiled without 6 successive messengers and 10 pairs of hands.

The Telephone for Love Making

“The King,” writes a correspondent from Madrid, “spends with his bride all the time allowed him by etiquette and public affairs. He hastens to Aranjuez, where she is staying, and during the journey the royal Leander will sometimes look out at the carriage window to see on the horizon the bare trees under which Philip II conspired against the conscience of the world.”

When he returns from Aranjuez, his impatience leads him to a part of the palace where modern science has placed its latest discovery at the service of the royal lover, and annihilates the space which for two days longer separates him from his bride. A telephone, in fact, has been fitted up, connecting one of the King’s rooms with that of Princess Mercedes, and enabling them to converse together, free from indiscreet eyes and ears.

Strange to think that the telephone should thus get the better of the traditional and implacable etiquette of a court where the King cannot get an egg boiled without 6 successive messengers and 10 pairs of hands. Yet more strange is a love so rarely found in the loftiest stations, and which could only spring up and gain strength because two hearts met in the solitude of exile, far from the factitious pomp of courtly constraint. — The Daily Alta, 1878

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

Etiquette Extremes of Spain

"The court etiquette of Spain was elaborate and complex to the extreme."

"It was in Spain that etiquette attained those extremes which are to-day so difficult to understand. Men and women ceased to be human beings with a will: Frederic Marshall says, 'They became machines of reverence, everybody had his place marked out and was kept mercilessly in it. The number of steps and the depths of bows which each person was to make on entering the royal presence, the width of cloaks, the length of ribbons, and perhaps more than all, the elaborate division of offices and functions, we're fixed with a precision of which examples exist nowhere else.'
                                                             

"Spanish nobles are classified either as Grandes de España (also called in English grandees), or as titled nobles. Formerly, grandees were divided into the first, second and third classes, but now, all grandees enjoy the same privileges. An individual may hold a grandeeship, whether in possession of a title of nobility or not. Normally, however, each grandeeship is attached to a title, though this was not always the case. Furthermore, a grandeeship is always awarded along with every ducal title, just as most dukes in France gradually obtained a peerage under its ancien régime. A grandee of any rank outranks a non-grandee, even if that non-grandee's title is of a higher degree. Thus, a baron-grandee enjoys higher precedence than a marquis who is not a grandee. Except for dukes and some very ancient titles of marquesses and counts, most Spanish titles of nobility are not attached to grandeeships." –From www.almanachdegotha.org

The people of Spain took up ceremony and reverential courtesy as a duty. Even the beggars asked each morning of their colleague: 'Señor, has your Courtesy taken his chocolate?' As for the grandees, they considered themselves above the universe and all the men within it.

It was Maria Anna of Neuburg, the 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. The grand equerry, whose particular and peculiar privilege it was to unhook the Queen's royal ankle, on such occasion, was absent that day!

The court etiquette of Spain was elaborate and complex to the extreme. It is related that on one occasion the Queen fell from her horse, caught her foot and hung by the stirrup, unable to extricate herself. This happened in the presence of a number of attendants who made no move whatever to assist her. They couldn't, you see, because the grand equerry whose particular and peculiar privilege it was to unhook the royal ankle on such occasion was absent!

A passerby, noticing the Queen's plight, released her. Whereupon he received several doubloons for his service, but was condemned to banishment because of his indiscretion! Such were the extremes etiquette had reached in the Spanish court." –Lillian Eichler 

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

19th C. Spanish Royal Court Etiquette

We find in a late number of Noah's Sunday Times an editorial upon the manners of the Court of Spain, and the particular code of morals of the present day. There is undoubtedly more licentiousness in that Court than in those of all the other foreign potentates put together. Yet Spain seems, at the present time, to remain comparatively tranquil under the reign of the youthful Queen, and be perfectly satisfied with the present regime. We copy a portion of the article:
                                                    

Queen Isabella II of Spain. She ruled from 1833 to 1868. Isabella's reign was a troubled and chaotic chapter in Spain's history. It was marked by coups, scandals and civil wars, which ended with a successful revolution against the Spanish monarchy.

There is probably no monarchy in Europe which keeps up the stiff, antiquated etiquette of royalty equal to the Spanish Court. Everything is done by rule, by usanca, as it is called, and it unites the sober dignity of the Moors with the imperial pride which distinguished the reign of Charles V., and Ferdinand and Isabella. Poverty has not abated an inch in the steady etiquette of that court, but it is now in great danger of being overturned, if not utterly destroyed, by that hoyden, the young Queen of Spain. She cannot possibly carry out old forms, and therefore discards them altogether. They say of the young Queen, that, although she likes gossip herself, she is indifferent to all gossip about herself. She gives herself up to the noisiest pleasures with childish ardor, and seems to take delight in teasing the solemn nullity of a husband whom she was required to marry. 


When her ministers wish to talk to her about public affairs, she bids them, with girlish petulence, to consult her mother, and that it is she who manages those kind of things. She orders dancing every night in the gardens, prohibits all kinds of illumination, and the moment she arrives gives herself up to laughter and dancing of the most energetic character. She tires out the strongest limbed, and then looks round with the most reckless merriment. Half an hour afterward she seats herself, and eats and drinks with the same vigor as she dances, and that at some rustic table under the trees. From these balls ancient Spanish etiquette has fled affrighted.

Cravats à la Lord Byron, replaced the stiff uniform, or formal black coat, white cravat, and white vest of “Spanishdom”

A young girl and her duenna, or chaperon         

Nankeen gabines, summer frock coats, cravats a la Byron, replace the stiff uniform, or formal black coat, white cravat, and white vest of Spanishdom. With utter contempt for all etiquette, her youthful majesty, whenever her partner is young, handsome, and amusing, does not scruple to walk off alone with him in the sylvan solitudes. Paquo, (Frank,) for so she calls her husband, used to fret and worry at first, but has got used to it, and is become plethoric and indifferent. She laughs at the remonstrances of her elderly friends, even when they hint that her crown is in danger; and it is this fact which induces people to speak of abdication.
                                               

Isabella's Royal Coat of Arms

The little queen is no doubt a jolly rollocking girl, full of buoyancy of spirits and happiness, as all Spanish girls are who are not kept down by priests and duennas. She is, however, in danger, for if she had the ability to assist in conducting public affairs, she might romp with impunity after business hours; but she is like one of our school girls at 3 o'clock, rushing out of the school room into the candy shop, with shouts of ringing laughter. If it is said that this dynasty of sovereigns that is, mother and daughter — with no special regard for morality, cannot long be sustained in Spain, we answer that the people, who are loyal, are exceedingly indifferent about the conduct of royalty and nobility at court.


They never meddle with interdicted subjects. There are no single females more virtuous than those of Spain, and none married who are so indifferent to its solemn obligations. In every respectable house there is a fat, jolly padre, who takes the head of the table, and all the children look like him. The husband, a kind, affectionate, good, indifferent fellow, in too sensible to take any notice of an event so very common and domestic in Spain — a kind of common law or usanca. The common, uneducated people, however, are more vigilant in this respect than the higher orders and do not generally submit to these matrimonial innovations.- From The Daily Alta California, 1849

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

Spain's Royal Etiquette Past

                                         

Maria Christina Henriette Desideria Felicitas Raineria of Austria, was Queen of Spain as the second wife of King Alfonso XII. She was regent during the minority of their son, Alfonso XIII, and the vacancy of the throne between her husband's death and her son's birth, from 1885 until 1902. 

Tobacco at the Court of Spain

The Queen Regent of Spain is simple in her manners and is slowly relaxing the rigid etiquette of the Spanish court. Formerly it was impossible to smoke before the Queen. At a recent court dinner, however, she ordered cigars to be produced. Everybody was astonished and no one seemed inclined to take the first step. The officer of state next the Queen held the silver basket containing the cigars, but did not know what to do with them." Finally the Queen took one, lighted it, and said : "Pass around the cigars, gentlemen." –From the Daily Alta California, November 1889

                                                     
Spain's young King with his mother, the Regent Queen ~ "one requires very little stimulating to "enthuse" over the ruler of Spain. Partly because he is the sort of youth that an ordinary citizen—were he, too, an ordinary citizen—would be very friendly with, and would speak about behind his back as a very decent fellow indeed, and partly because he is a monarch, isolated from the contact of common men, surrounded by what seemed insurmountable walls of etiquette and tradition, and apparently at the mercy of wire-pullers and courtiers, and yet has broken through the steel girdle and proved himself a wise ruler and a very human being."

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The New Spain — And Some Stories of 

King Alfonso in 1906 

        

An engagement card features Alfonso in uniform with his helmet and sword and his fiancé, Victoria Eugenie, wearing a fashionable, squared necked, evening dress. “People who know Spain from books will tell you with bated breath of the cast-iron etiquette that surrounds the royal personage of Spain, of dreadful dinners eaten in solemn silence, of bows to the left and curtsies to the right, of mace-bearers and cup-bearers and sword-bearers, of orders of precedence; such as that between the Infanta who was born at 7.25 and the Infanta who entered this wicked world at 7.29.”

There came to meet me at the North Station at Madrid a cheerful boy—a boy who had obviously come straight from a tennis court, who was dressed "slack" as only the English can dress "slack" and remain respectable. In the carriage that drove us through the uneven streets of Madrid he told me about a "rotter" of our acquaintance, used twelve different school-slang phrases in as many minutes.

That night he came to the Fornos to dinner, and I asked him why his friends called him by a Spanish name.

"Because I am Spanish," was the reply, and the answer staggered me.

"But you are unique?"

"Not a bit of it. Dozens of fellows in Madrid like myself have been educated in England."

And this boy, I discovered, was the son of a noble house that goes back to the year 1, and that he was by no means alone in his Anglicisation I soon discovered.

The royal marriage and the enthusiasm it has aroused through Spain are only symptomatic of the extraordinary respect in which Great Britain is held throughout Spain. The word "Inglesi" has a meaning outside the narrow limits of appellation, and the young Spain that is growing up with the boy-King has possibilities which the boldest may speculate upon and fall short of the mark.

A LITTLE MAD

Remember that old Spain does not quite understand Alfonso. It loves him; he is the darling of the people, and your ultra-Republicans, exceedingly voluble on all pertaining to kingship, have a pleasant word for the slim youth with the everlasting smile.

But none the less old Spain does not quite take him in. To be perfectly frank, old Spain, watching in wonderment as the young man sweeps away the cobwebs that hamper his administration, confesses sadly that the King is a little mad. This same old Spain, be it noted, has for generations regarded the "Inglesi" as a nation of amiable lunatics, and for very much the same reason as England has deserved the stigma, King Alfonso bears it.

People who know Spain from books will tell you with bated breath of the cast-iron etiquette that surrounds the royal personage of Spain, of dreadful dinners eaten in solemn silence, of bows to the left and curtsies to the right, of mace-bearers and cup-bearers and sword-bearers, of orders of precedence; such as that between the Infanta who was born at 7.25 and the Infanta who entered this wicked world at 7.29.

There have been customs handed down from the days of the gloomy builder of the Escurial. They have been handed down from king to king—even Joseph Bonaparte "carried on"—and they were handed over, heirlooms of procedure, to the patient little boy whose unceasing education earned for him the sympathy of all the little boys in the world.

Where are those customs now?

If we are to believe the aged masters of ceremonies, who—so it is said—go moaning about the Corridors of the Palacio Real, weeping for glories gone, they have vanished. Pruned here and omitted there, remodelled, improved, renovated, the irreverent youth (he has just streaked past my window in a motor-car) has, in the language of the soap advertiser, "made home comfortable."

THE IRON HAND BENEATH

And his influence is felt throughout Spain. Not because he has led the Spanish gentry to wearing English clothes, English collars, and English cravats (I saw a "smoking jacket" ticketed in the window of a cheap tailor to-day), nor because he has infused into a languid people something of that restless energy which is peculiarly his, but because you see his hand in the great acts of administration.

There was a Minister in Spain who had a friend. The friend's past was not exactly blameless: there was a sort, of "war stores scandal" in the background, but the Minister was anxious to put his friend into the Cabinet. And the Minister, who was sufficiently powerful to he blind to his own weakness had not the slightest doubt that his nomination would be accepted. It is unfortunately true that corruption in the public service has been by no means rare in Spain, and is not regarded in a very serious light, and the Minister was perhaps justified in his belief that the unfortunate affair bad been conveniently forgotten.

But the King's memory, like the King's digestion, is remarkably good, and without a word he struck his pen through his name. The Minister was thunderstruck.

"I shall place my resignation in your Majesty's hands," he said stiffly; but the awful threat did not alarm the young man.

"That is my wish," he said gravely.

Again. The present marriage is by no means regarded with approval in Germany. You are aware that there are great German Princes whose "military duties" will prevent their attending the ceremony.

It is an unfortunate fact that one cannot show preference without offending the unpreferred. The attachment of the King has drawn him closer to Great Britain; but King Alfonso is a shrewd youth, and he has certainly no desire to antagonise a powerful State like Germany. The spirit of "manana," which is at once the joy and curse of Spain, extends to every class of Spaniard—even to the Spaniard ambassadorial—and there are to be celebrations this year in Germany at which the crowned heads of Europe are to be represented. Somehow the Spanish Ambassador at Berlin failed to notify the King of these celebrations, with the result that there was no time for the fitting representation of Spain. Alfonso's hand fell on the Ambassador. A prompt Gazette announced his recall and the reason.

ALL THE TO-MORROWS SHALL BE AS TO-DAY

This is how Alfonso XIII. is creating a new Spain. By substituting promptitude for procrastination; by replacing "manana" by "to-day"; by refusing to recognise the plea of custom; and lastly, and most important of all, by doing himself the things that he asks his people to do.

The story that best illustrates the sane, practical spirit that underlies most of his acts is the story of the reservoir disaster. In the course of constructing a reservoir near Madrid, part of the works collapsed, and hundreds of workmen were buried beneath tons of earth. The boy King was at the royal palace when the news was telephoned through, and he ordered his car and drove through to the scene of the catastrophe. Crowds had gathered in the vicinity, and the King was recognised as he drove up. Accident or royal procession, all's one to the Spaniard, so long as it be in the nature of sight- seeing, and "Viva el Rey!" was roared by a thousand throats. It was an indignant young monarch who stood up in his car and harangued the crowd. "If you were helping to dig these poor fellows out, instead of shouting, 'Viva,' you would be doing a far better thing." he said—and the crowd took the hint.

It is customary at such a time as this for the writer to say the nicest things he can remember about his royal subject. Kings, with two notable exceptions, are very uninteresting people, who do a great deal of work and listen patiently to a great number of national anthems. But one requires very little stimulating to "enthuse" over the ruler of Spain. Partly because he is the sort of youth that an ordinary citizen—were he, too, an ordinary citizen—would be very friendly with, and would speak about behind his back as a very decent fellow indeed, and partly because he is a monarch, isolated from the contact of common men, surrounded by what seemed insurmountable walls of etiquette and tradition, and apparently at the mercy of wire-pullers and courtiers, and yet has broken through the steel girdle and proved himself a wise ruler and a very human being.
–Reproduced from The Star (New Zealand), August 11, 1906

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, 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