One King’s White Glove Etiquette

Alfonso of Spain has a peculiar aversion to gloves, and he refuses to wear them, even on great state occasions In the beginning the strict etiquette of the court of Spain was shocked, but now the young King’s independence is taken as a matter of course. –
Above, an engagement card featuring Alfonso in uniform with his helmet and sword and his fiancé, Victoria Eugenie, wearing a fashionable, squared necked, evening dress.

KING ALFONSO HATES GLOVES

 MAYOR'S TRICK IS UNVEILED

Not Knowing King’s Distaste, Mayor has His Picture Wrong

NEW YORK, June 14 - Alfonso of Spain has a peculiar aversion to gloves, and he refuses to wear them, even on great state occasions In the beginning the strict etiquette of the court of Spain was shocked, but now the young King’s independence is taken as a matter of course.

Alfonso had also a keen and quick eye, and he relates this story of an incident in the Pyrenees. Passing through a little village the royal automobile misbehaved, and the royal traveler alighted to direct the royal chauffeurs in making repairs. The mayor of the village struggled into a white collar and his best clothes and came forward to offer assistance. The King asked him to show him around the village, and the two men left the car in the road and walked through the town.

In the office of the mayor was a picture of Alfonso, but wearing white gloves This caused the King to approach and examine the print closely. “Never have I worn white gloves.” muttered Alfonso. Then the mayor came forward, covered with confusion, and explained. The picture was originally of Alfonso XII, the King's father. When son followed father to the throne the thrifty mayor decapitated Alfonso XII and had the head of Alfonso XIII painted on the original canvas. He had not, however, known about the gloves. – By the Associated Press, 1913

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

Spanish Premier Talks King’s Etiquette

King Alfonso’s recent visit to King Manuel of Portugal was of a private character and that it had no bearing on the matrimonial projects of the Portuguese Monarch – Public domain photo of King Manuel of Portugal, circa 1909

Says Two Kings Never Discussed Matrimony

Spanish Premier Denies Alfonso Visited…

Manuel to Plan for Nuptials

MADRID, Feb. 16. The premier, Señor Maura, declared today that King Alfonso’s recent visit to King Manuel of Portugal was of a private character and that it had no bearing on the matrimonial projects of the Portuguese Monarch.

A member of King Alfonso’s immediate entourage says that the King has expressed himself several times recently as being determined to make an aeroplane fight with Wilbur Wright, the American aeroplanist, who is conducting a series of flights at Pau, France.

The whole Court is opposed to the idea on the ground that it would be a breach of etiquette, but the informant added that when his Majesty makes up his mind to do a thing nothing can stop him. – Los Angeles Herald, 1909

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

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

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

Thrifty Ex-Queen’s Manners and Meals

We can well believe that the French Reds are mightily tickled with the notion of the ex-Queen of Spain, the lineal descendant of Charles V. and Philip II., being sued by her provision dealer and grocer. This is certainly unlike the grand manners of the Kings and Queens of other days. The chief cook of Charles V., for example, wore decorations, which he doubtless earned in the kitchen, and his cookery-book was for two centuries an authority in great houses and palaces of Europe. 

 

A FRUGAL QUEEN

Let extravagant Americans who never know what goes on in their kitchens, and who think it a light matter to spend fifty or one hundred dollars for “a little dinner for a few friends,” read the contract of ex-Queen Isabella with her cook. Here was a thrifty Bourbon, who not only had presence of mind enough to seize her jewelry aud loose cash when she fled over the Pyrenees, but who rigorously binds down her cook to all of the details of breakfast, dinner, and supper. It cannot be said that her ex-Majesty of Spain is pinched for cash. She has had money enough to help set up Alfonso when that rash youth went into business as King of Spain. She even helped that hapless pair, Prince Perkins and wife, when they were skirmishing with Paris boarding-house women, and passing around the hat among the Bourbon family. Isabella comes of a money-making stock; the Bourbons have usually put aside a snug sum for a rainy day. Wherever they are found, all of that house, unless we except the eccentric Chambord, of the elder branch, are supposed to be at least “forehanded.”

The ex-Queen, in her contract with Mr. Alfred Blanchard, her chief cook, stipulates for the class of food and drink to be put upon her table, and for their price. Not only so, but she compels that functionary to specify the kind of provender to be furnished to the servants in the house. And, in order that there shall be no waste, it is set down that, in addition to certain dishes, the people below stairs shall be given “some leavings from her Majesty's table.” We see no provision as to “dripping,” that frequent cause for strife in frugal households. It is uncertain whether it is a perquisite of Mr. Blanchard or a subject of royal bargain with the soap-fat man. But it was agreed between the ex-Queen and the cook that the latter should "some leavings from her Majesty's table." We see no provision as to "dripping," that frequent cause for strife in frugal households. It is uncertain whether it is a perquisite of Mr. Blanchard, or a subject of royal bargain with the soap-fat man. But it was agreed between the ex-Queen and the cook that the latter should pay for the “wasting” in the kitchen, a prudent arrangement which must have put a stop to all larceny of coal, candles, and sugar by that imaginary foe of the household, the “harmless, necessary cat.” 

But Isabella, though the Queen, like John Gilpin's wife, had a frugal mind, she was also on pleasure bent. Her bill of fare was liberal as well as cheap: Two soups, eight dishes of meat, vegetables, cheese, and stowed fruit, were the daily fare of her Catholic Majesty. And all this was washed down with Spanish and Bordeaux wines. For this comfortable allowance of food and drink the ex-Queen agreed to pay only twelve francs a head per day, ten persons being guaranteed by the royal “party of the first part” to this unique contract. Two dollars and forty cents a day is certainly not high living for an ex-Queen. There are plenty of New Yorkers who spend more than that on what they eat and drink, and yet think they are severely republican in their tastes. But we do not believe that our lavish housekeepers would be at all satisfied with Isabella’s arrangement for the entertainment of her guests.

In order to screw down the cook to the lowest point, the exiled Majesty of Spain agreed to pay for each extra cater at the rate of six francs for breakfast, and twelve francs for dinner, and due notice was to be given the cook at that. No ordering “dinner for ten, with plates for twelve” in that house. Doubtless the frugal Bourbon thought to herself, as she regarded the poverty-stricken Perkins, or his managing spouse, at her table: “You cost me twelve francs this day,” which must not have been pleasant for poor Perkins. We can well believe that the French Reds are mightily tickled with the notion of the ex-Queen of Spain, the lineal descendant of Charles V. and Philip II., being sued by her provision dealer and grocer. This is certainly unlike the grand manners of the Kings and Queens of other days. The chief cook of Charles V., for example, wore decorations, which he doubtless earned in the kitchen, and his cookery-book was for two centuries an authority in great houses and palaces of Europe. 

The chefs of the time of Louis XIV. and “Good Queen Bess” were very fine folk indeed; and a nobleman's account of the good things that loaded royal tables in those days would almost create an appetite under the ribs of death. But the times have changed, and the manners of royalty have changed with them. If the ex-Queen does not like the quality of garlic and macaroni with which she is served, there is no good reason why she should not complain to her cook, and invite a civil process from her green-grocer. An ex-Empress of France brings a suit in the courts to recover her share of the loot of the Chinese Summer Palace. Why should not another royal relic scrutinize her provision bills and insist upon having her money's worth of victuals and drink? We have heard so much ill of this royal exile from Spain that her sensible little stroke of business should be put down to her credit. If she is economical, she has at least one virtue. She reminds us of that frugal Queen whose disposition of a famous plum pudding is celebrated in English rhymes:

“And what they did not eat that day

The Queen next morning fried.”

—The New York Times, 1875

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

An Intrusive Royal Court Etiquette

“Etiquette and custom require that the Queen of Spain shall not nurse her own child. According to immemorial custom, a wetnurse is obtained from the provinces of the Asturias, in Northern Spain, where the Royal family originally came from, and where the people are very vigorous. A nurse possessing the requisite qualifications has already been engaged for Queen Victoria. The reasons for entrusting the baby to a nurse are that the province of the Asturias has a historic right to care for the Royal progeny, that the Queen may not be capable of nursing her own child, and that, being a foreigner, she may not be disposed to give it that care which child of the blood Royal of Spain requires.” – 1907

BARBARIC ORDEAL FOR NEW BORN ROYAL CHILD

Nowhere in the world has the barbarism of traditional etiquette reached such depths as in the Royal Court of Spain. There it strips privacy from that which one considers most sacred. It insisted that King Alfonso should woo the Princess Ena of Battenberg in public. It will not allow the Queen to become a mother in private, and when she dies it will not permit her to pass through her last agony without official witnesses. 

The etiquette of the Spanish court is not only barbaric, it is medievally absurd. This publicity, according to modern and especially American ideas, is nothing less than revolting. It is part of the Court etiquette of the most ceremonious Court in the world, and has been handed town practically unchanged since the middle ages. It utterly destroys the privacy of what most civilized people regard as the most intimate and delicate of all family occasions. It must cause unutterable distress and embarrassment to the mother, if she possesses the most rudimentary feeling of modesty, and must seriously endanger her life.

The publicity begins as soon as the probability of an addition to the Royal family becomes apparent. King Alfonso ordered a three days’ festival at Madrid in honor of the approaching event. In the churches, prayers are offered that the new baby may be a boy; he will be named Alfonso; if a girl she will be named Isabel Christina. It is anticipated by the doctors that there may be twins. Spanish law and Court etiquette require that an immense number of officials shall be actually present at the birth of the Queen’s children. 

Among these are all the higher officials of the Royal household, representatives of the various classes of Grandees, the Prime Minister and all the members of the government, the ambassadors of foreign powers, representatives of the two houses of the legislature, the mayors of Madrid and of various municipalities that have a historic connection with the Spanish Monarchy. As soon as the probable hour of the birth is known, notification is sent to all these functionaries and they hasten to the Royal Palace. 

These important persons fill the great saloon, which looks on the Queen’s bed chamber,while the stairs of the Palace are crowded with legislators and municipal councilors and the court yard is filled with ordinary Madrilenos. The sensations of the poor Queen at such a time in presence of a large assemblage of men of all kinds, most of whom are total strangers to her, are indescribable. One purpose of this publicity is to make sure that the child is really born to the Queen and not a changeling, for, at least in earlier times, the people would have considered themselves very seriously defrauded if a baby not of the Royal blood had been palmed off on them. Etiquette and the national custom require that the doctor in attendance on the Queen shall be a Spaniard, even though he may have had no previous experience with her. Queen Victoria has had this rule modified so far that her English doctor is permitted to work with his official Spanish colleague.

As soon as the birth takes place, a salute of 21 guns, if the child is a boy, is fired from the Palace grounds to announce the fact to the people. The babe is immediately placed on a huge gold plate and handed to King Alfonso. In this way, the King carries the tiny, blinking, new baby to the head of the line of waiting functionaries, at the head of which is the Prime Minister. The Spanish doctor keeps his hand on the right hand side of the gold plate and the English doctor stands on the left. Accompanying the King are the Duke of Sotomayor, who is Majordomo of the Palace and the highest of all Court functionaries, and the Duchess of Medina de la Torres, who is Mistress of the Nurse, in national costume, stands near at hand, in order to render service when required. The King marches up to the old Prime Minister and shows him the baby. The old gentleman bows profoundly, adjusts his eyeglasses, and robes and the chief female official of the household. The Spanish veteran examines the little red infant carefully. 

Then, if his examination warrants it, he exclaims: “It is a Prince! God bless the Prince!” Prolonged applause from the line greets this remark. The King passes the long line of officials and ambassadors and exhibits the baby to each of them in turn. As the baby is presented, each of them bows profoundly. Finally the baby is shown to a notary, who has a book prepared relating the ancestry and parentage of the child for the last 500 years. He now makes an entry of the sex of the child, the date, hour and place of its birth. This is witnessed by the Archbishop of Toledo and the Majordomo of the Palace. When this task is accomplished, the King hands the baby over to the Duchess of Medina de la Torres, Mistress of the Robes, who may, if she sees fit, intrust the infant to the nurse. The child now has been exhibited to a great many more strange old men than is good for him. He is at last handed back to his unfortunate mother.

Etiquette and custom require that the Queen of Spain shall not nurse her own child. According to immemorial custom, a wetnurse is obtained from the provinces of the Asturias, in Northern Spain, where the Royal family originally came from, and where the people are very vigorous. A nurse possessing the requisite qualifications has already been engaged for Queen Victoria. The reasons for entrusting the baby to a nurse are that the province of the Asturias has a historic right to care for the Royal progeny, that the Queen may not be capable of nursing her own child, and that, being a foreigner, she may not be disposed to give it that care which child of the blood Royal of Spain requires. 

The nurse, or “ama,” as she is called in Spanish, wears a short velvet skirt, trimmed with scarlet velvet and gold braid; low shoes, with silver buckles; silk stockings, satin apron, gold embroidered bolero over lawn chemisette, hair in the Spanish national style and knotted behind under flowing ribbons; long earrings, and a shower of chains about her neck. A professional nurse has also been engaged for Queen Victoria. She is Miss Gertrude Bunting of Nottingham, England. She has a high reputation for efficiency on occasions of this character. She is a Catholic and recently acted as nurse at the birth of the Marquis of Bute's daughter, Lady Mary Stuart. The Marquis is one of the richest noblemen in England and a leading Catholic. 

“I shall nurse my own child,” declared Queen Victoria, when this custom of the substitute mother was pointed out to her. For a time it seemed that she would win her way despite the tradition of fifty Spanish dynasties. But the King, who sided with her in her claim of motherhood, found that little short of an uprising was threatened unless he yielded to the law. Finally the Royal couple compromised. A woman of English extraction was found in the Kingdom who would nurse the child according to custom and still comply with the Pope's demand that it be taught nothing but Roman Catholic tenets from the day it first begins to lisp. Already this woman has been brought to the castle, where she diets daily under the eye of the Royal physician in preparations for her pseudo motherhood.– Marysville Daily Appeal, 1907

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

Etiquette and Spain's Queen

It is understood that the King fairly worships his wife and does all in his power to make Madrid pleasant for her, but the rigid etiquette of the Spanish court is peculiarly galling to the high spirited English Princess 

Queen of Spain Will Be Welcomed on Return “Home” 

Welcome Awaits Queen of Spain

King to Enter Three Yachts in Regattas at Cowes and Ryde 

[Special to the Herald] London, July 1911—

Much interest is felt in the visit of the King and Queen of Spain, as Princess Ena, the Queen, always was popular in England and the news from Madrid which, though toned down for the public is very generally known, has created a great sympathy for her.

It is understood that the King fairly worships his wife and does all in his power to make Madrid pleasant for her, but the rigid etiquette of the Spanish court is peculiarly galling to the high spirited English Princess and then the constant dread for her husband and children has told heartily on her.

It is said her Majesty is never really happy except when she is visiting her old English home. King Alfonso has entered three of his yachts for the racing at Cowes and Ryde, and will probably sail one of them in person. He is not to remain in England more than a fortnight and will then return to his own country.

Queen Ena, on the other hand, will spend a few weeks with her mother on the island, and will then travel to London for a brief visit, occupying the suite of apartments in Kensington Palace that was placed at their disposal a few years ago, by the late-King Edward.

This visit will be of a purely private character. Her Majesty is not expected to take part in any public function. Queen Ena will be accompanied by her three children and upon the conclusion of her visit will return direct to Madrid. — Los Angeles Herald, 1911

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