Relaxed French Court Etiquette

Her fair Majesty always made out the list of invitations with her own hand, not allowing even the Emperor to add a single name without her permission. At these parties, the rigidity of Court etiquette was somewhat relaxed. Conversation was carried on with the utmost freedom; amusing and interesting novelties were admitted, music, tableaux vivant, private theatricals, and charades, etc., were got up by amateurs. 

The first “Grand Ball” of the season will he given at the Tuileries on Saturday next, when about 5,000 guests will be packed into the state ball-rooms, the spurs and swords of the “military” tearing the finery of the ladies’ dresses to pieces, and strewing the grounds with shreds of gauze, muslin, and tulle. Six or eight of these crowded, and not over-elegant gatherings, take place each winter, the guests being very much “mixed.” The Empress’ private balls, and the Monday evening soirées which she gives in her own private apartments are, on the contrary, very select and extremely elegant.

It is very difficult to obtain admission to these; her fair Majesty always making out the list of invitations with her own hand, and not allowing even the Emperor to add a single name without her permission. At these parties, the rigidity of Court etiquette is somewhat relaxed. Conversation is carried on with the utmost freedom; amusing and interesting novelties are admitted, music, tableaux vivant, private theatricals, charades, etc., are got up by amateurs; and the evenings, which are extremely animated and agreeable, wind up with an elegant supper. – Letter from Paris, 1865

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

French Etiquette and Napoleon Bonaparte

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

According to author Dr. Philip Mansel: 

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

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

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

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