A Medieval Noblewoman's Guide to Dressing Up
An English Manor So Grand It Has Its Own Exhibit At The Metropolitan Museum
The Friendship and Rivalry of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton
A New Version of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love
Opening A Bookstore in the Middle of a Pandemic
The Glam Lady Gang of the Turn of the Century
One of the First Woman-Owned Bookshops in America
I can't believe it's been 10 years since I got up pre-dawn, put on a hat, and ate some wedding cake with my mom to watch the royal wedding! (we also did this when I was a little kid, for Diana's wedding!). Happy day, you two
During Victoria’s reign, the Court Drawing Rooms were held in Buckingham Palace at four stated periods every year–two before Easter and two after. Levées, hosted by the Prince of Wales for the presentation of gentlemen, were held at intervals during the like season in St. James’s Palace. Though of lessening distinction as the Victorian period wore on, the delicious prospect of being presented to the Queen or Prince of Wales continued to be a beacon to ambitious social climbers.
When the date of a drawing room was announced, letters poured into the Lord Chamberlain, suggesting names of ladies for presentation. Everyone who had kissed the Queen’s hand was able to nominate another for presentation. But it wasn’t guaranteed that any name submitted was accepted. The list underwent careful scrutiny by both the Lord Chamberlain and the Queen, Her Majesty only receiving those who “wore the white flower of a blameless life.”
There were only three qualifications for admittance to the throne room:
The lady wishing to be presented should be of good moral and social character.
Presentation had to be made by someone who had already been presented.
The status of the actual presentee. The most obvious candidates, the wives and daughters of the aristocracy, had the privilege of being kissed by Queen Victoria (though no kisses were received if the Princess of Wales were acting as stand-in, and the practice was dropped entirely in the Edwardian era), then came the ranks of those candidates whose presentation would be sealed by the action of kissing the Queen’s hand. These included the daughters and wives of the country gentry and Town gentry, of the clergy, of naval and military officers, of professional men such as physicians and barristers, of merchants, bankers and members of the Stock Exchange, and “persons engaged in commerce on a large scale.”
Summonses were sent out three weeks in advance, allowing ample time for the excited debutante or newly married lady, to practice the complicated court curtsy and order the regulated costume demanded for presentation, as laid out, via the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, in Lady Colin Campbell’s Manners and Rules of Good Society, 1911 edition:
Full
Court Dress:
low bodice, short sleeves, and train to dress not less than three
yards in length from the shoulders. Whether the train is cut round or
square is a matter of inclination or fashion. The width at the end
should be 54 inches. It is also imperative that a presentation dress
should be white if the person presented be an unmarried lady and it
is also the fashion for married ladies to wear white on their
presentation unless their age rendered their doing so unsuitable The
white dresses worn by either debutante or married ladies may be
trimmed with either colored or white flowers according to individual
taste.
High Court Dress: dress of silk satin or velvet may be worn at Their Majesties Courts and on other State occasions by ladies to whom from illness infirmity or advancing age the present low Court dress is inappropriate. Bodices in front cut square or heart shaped which may be filled in with white only either transparent or lined at the back high or cut down three quarters height. Sleeves to elbow either thick or transparent. Trains, gloves, and feathers as usual. It is necessary for ladies who wish to appear in High Court Dress to obtain Royal permission through the Lord Chamberlain. This regulation does not apply to ladies who have already received permission to wear high dress.
White gloves only should be worn excepting in case of mourning when black or grey gloves are admissible. As a lady on presentation does not now kiss the Queen’s hand as formerly she did she is not required to remove the right hand glove before entering the Presence Chamber. This order therefore is no longer in force and a lady wearing elbow gloves and bracelets will find it a great convenience not to be to take off her glove.
It was compulsory for both Married and Unmarried Ladies to Wear Plumes. The married lady’s Court plume consisted of three white feathers. An unmarried lady’s of two white feathers. The three white feathers should be mounted as a Prince of Wales plume and worn towards the left hand side of the head. Colored feathers may not be worn. In deep mourning, white feathers must be worn, black feathers are inadmissible.
White veils or lace lappets must be worn with the feathers. The veils should not be longer than 45 inches.
Bouquets are not included in the dress regulations issued by the Lord Chamberlain although they are invariably carried by both married and unmarried ladies. It is thus optional to carry a bouquet or not, and some elderly ladies carry much smaller bouquets than do younger ladies. A fan and a lace pocket handkerchief are also carried by a lady on presentation or on attending a Court but these two items are also altogether optional.
Armed with the proper arsenal, the young lady or new wife was ready to take London by storm. Queen Victoria held her presentations in the afternoon at 3 o’clock, which caused a traffic snarl of monumental proportions. It was common for the débutante to queue up in her carriage for hours down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, boxed in on both sides by other equipages and the throng of curious onlookers. Then, once she alighted from her carriage, there was another long wait in the close, sweltering palace antechambers, where neither refreshments nor relief were available.
The young lady who persevered to the end, however, got her rewards. Carrying her train over her left arm, she made her way through the groups of attendants to the anteroom or corridor where one of the lords-in-waiting, with his wand, spread out her train she’d let down, and walked forward to the Throne Room.
Her name was announced as she curtsied before the Queen, so low as to almost kneel, and while doing such, she kissed the royal hand extended to her, underneath which she placed her own ungloved right hand. The peeress or daughter of a peer received a kiss from Queen Victoria. When the Princess of Wales stood in for Her Majesty, the lady being presented curtsied only and did not kiss the Princess’s hand. After passing Her Majesty, the débutante curtsied to any of the Princesses near her and retired backwards in what may be called a succession of curtsies until she reached the threshold of the doorway. The official in attendance replaced her train upon her arm and the presentation was complete!
As was stated above, the reception of a kiss on the cheek from the Queen or the gift of one upon her hand was tossed out when Edward VII came to the throne. Other, more important changes were made to the presentation ceremony. Things were sped up by his reign, the drawing rooms and levees switched to the evening and held in June; the telephone used to summon a débutante’s transport, thus easing the traffic; buffet supper, served from tables laid with gold plate helped to revive waiting ladies; and the court photographers were allotted a room for speedy snapshots of the women.
Levées were conducted somewhat on the same plan as that of the Drawing room but were confined exclusively to men who wear uniform or Court dress. Hosted by the Prince of Wales, later the King, those entitled to be presented to H.R.H./H.M. were members of the aristocracy and gentry, the members of the diplomatic courts, the Cabinet and all leading Government officials, Members of Parliament, leading members of the legal profession, the naval and military professions, the leading members of the clerical profession, the leading members of the medical and artistic professions, the leading bankers merchants and members of the Stock Exchange, and persons engaged in commerce on a large scale. An exception to the rule as regards retail trade was made in favor of any person receiving Knighthood ,or when holding the office of Mayor, or being made a Justice of the Peace, or on receiving a Commission in the Territorial forces.
The workings of the levee were similar to those of the drawing rooms: dates announced and names submitted, and specific court dress required:
The Dress to be worn at Courts State Functions and Levees: Full dress uniform is invariably worn by all gentlemen entitled to wear it. All officers Scottish kilted corps should wear the kilt irrespective their being mounted officers or not. Gentlemen who do not wear uniform may wear either velvet Court dress new style; velvet Court dress old style; cloth Court dress.
The new style velvet Court dress is of black silk velvet. The body of the coat lined with white silk and the skirt with black silk. Steel buttons. Waistcoat of white satin or black silk velvet. Breeches of black silk velvet, black silk hose, patent leather shoes, steel buckled, white bow necktie, white gloves, sword, black beaver or silk cocked hat.
The velvet Court dress old style is very similar to the foregoing with the addition of a black silk wig bag at the back of the neck and lace frills and ruffles.
The cloth Court dress consists of a coat of dark mulberry claret or green cloth with black silk linings, gold embroidery on collar, cuffs, and pocket flaps, gilt buttons with Imperial Crown, waistcoat of white corded silk or white Marcella, breeches of cloth color of coat, black silk hose, patent leather shoes, sword, white bow necktie, white gloves, black beaver or silk cocked hat.
On certain days of the year, the so-called Collar days, high diplomatic and distinguished personages wear the collars and badges of the Garter, Thistle, St Patrick, Bath, and other Orders of Knighthood.
Early Days of the Romance Novels
That Blah You're Feeling--It's Called Languishing
The Ruthless Style of London's Forty Elephants Gang
Quiz: Would you have been accused of witchcraft? (I almost certainly would!)
Can a Basilica Stay Dry During Venice's Floods?
17th Century Gold Mourning Ring Found
Happy 3rd birthday, Prince Louis!
The Unbearable Whiteness of Ballet
What Shakespeare Wrote about the Plague
On the Years When Jane Austen Couldn't Write
The Best Sapphire Engagement Rings (as someone with a sapphire engagement ring myself, I approve this message!)
150 Years of Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc
Royal Wedding Dresses Through History
The Queen's 95th Birthday Collection Includes a Corgi Ornament!
The Story Behind Sculptor Brenda Putnam and the Folger's Statue of Puck
Five Fearless Female WWII Spies
Finding Peace at Brasserie Lipp
The Mystery of Agatha Christie
Historical Mysteries of the Roaring Twenties
Savage Insults From Literary Icons
On this day in 1920 (April 3) F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre were married in NYC! How did it work out? Well--not so well, but definitely interestingly...
This
weekend's Heroine is the prototypical flapper Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald,
born on this day in 1900, in Montgomery, Alabama! She was a spoiled
Southern belle, the youngest of six children of Minnie and Anthony
Sayre, members of a prominent Southern family. As a child she was known
to be very active and energetic, taking ballet lessons, swimming,
spending time outdoors; she was less interested in her school lessons,
though she was a popular student at Sidney Lanier High School. She was
known as something of a scandal in Montgomery, drinking, smoking, going
out with boys, and (gasp!) wearing a one-piece flesh-colored bathing
suit. She sought out attention whenever possible, flouting convention,
but her family's position kept her from ruin. She had many suitors.
They
were famous in New York, both for the success of the book and for their
wild, flapper-ish behavior. Zelda jumped in the fountain at Union
Square; they were kicked out of hotels for drunkeness; they rode on top
of taxis. Dorothy Parker said of them, "They did both look as though
they had just stepped out of the sun; their youth was striking. Everyone
wanted to meet them." But the drinking fueled not only parties by
violent arguments. In October 1921 their only child, Frances "Scottie"
Fitzgerald, was born in Scott's hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. They
employed a nurse for the baby as well as housekeepers, cooks, and
laundresses. They seldom saw the child or were even at home. The next
year Zelda again became pregnant, and possibly had an abortion.
When Scott's next book, The Beautiful and the Damned,
was published the New York Tribune asked Zelda to write a cheeky
review. Though the review was humorous and quirky, it also revealed her
frustration at Scott's "borrowing" of her own words and their marriage:
"It seems to me that on one page I recognized a portion of an old diary
of mine which mysteriously disappeared shortly after my marriage, and
also scraps of letters...which sound to me vaguely familiar. In fact,
Mr. Fitzgerald...seems to believe that plagiarism believes at home." The
piece led to offers from other magazines, including an article called
"Eulogy on the Flapper" in Metropolitan Magazine. But the couple had
money troubles as well as health worries, and in 1924 they left for
Paris and then the Riviera where Scott worked on The Great Gatsby and
Zelda began a wild flirtation with the young French pilot Edouard
Jozan. She asked Scott for a divorce, starting even more arguments,
though Jozan soon left and later told Zelda's biographer there was never
a real affair.
As
the 1920s progressed, the marriage deteriorated. Scott became more
alcoholic and Zelda's behavior more and more erratic. At 27 she turned
back to her childhood love of ballet, setting up a grueling daily
practice of 8 hours a day which drove her to exhaustion. She was
actually offered a place with the San Carlo Opera Ballet in Naples in
1929, but declined. In 1930 she was sent to a sanatorium in France where
she was diagnosed in schizophrenic. After a stay at another hospital in
Switzerland the Fitzgeralds returned to Alabama where her father was
dying. Scott then left for work in Hollywood, and by February 1932 Zelda
was again in hospital. While at the Phipps Clinic in Baltimore she felt
a surge of creativity and wrote a book, Save Me the Waltz,
in 6 weeks. She then sent it to Scott's publisher. When Scott read it
he was furious at its obvious depiction of their stormy marriage (which
he intended to use himself). It was published in October 1932 in a small
printing, but only sold half of even that and was a failure.
From
the mid-1930s Zelda spent her life in and out of hospitals, ending up
at the Highland Hospital in Asheville, NC in 1936 where she stayed while
Scott worked in Hollywood and had an affair with gossip columnist
Sheilah Graham. In 1938 Scott and Zelda tried a trip together to Cuba,
which was a failure. They never saw each other again until Scott's death
in 1940 (she did not attend the funeral, or their daughter's wedding a
few years later). She started a new novel, Caesar's Things,
which was never finished, and she died in a fire at highland Hospital
on March 10, 1948, a sad and terrible end to a life that once seemed to
promise so much and came to stand for a whole generation. She was buried
with Scott in Rockville, Maryland, under a stone engraved with the last
line of The Great Gatsby: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
The Queen's 95th Birthday Collection Includes a Corgi Ornament!
The Story Behind Sculptor Brenda Putnam and the Folger's Statue of Puck
Five Fearless Female WWII Spies
Finding Peace at Brasserie Lipp
The Mystery of Agatha Christie
Historical Mysteries of the Roaring Twenties
Savage Insults From Literary Icons
Some of my newest releases!
His Unlikely Duchess (Book One, The Dollar Duchesses)
Money can buy her marriage
But will it lead to love?
Miss Lily Wilkins hopes her American money will compensate for her lack of etiquette, as she needs a prestigious marriage to save her sisters’ prospects. Raised to believe wealth was her greatest attribute, she’s stunned when her unconventional ways catch the eye of the notorious Duke of Lennox. He’s far from the safe, sensible match she’d planned on—but Lily might just discover he’s the one she needs!
From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.
Dollar Duchesses
Money for Marriage into London Society
Take a walk back in time with five sweet Regency Christmas shorts and novellas.
Snowbound Christmas – Amanda McCabe
(A sequel to "The wallflower's Mistletoe Wedding")
Years ago, fate parted Helen Layton and Charles St. George. Now a wealthy widow and a famous artist, they are stuck together in a Christmas blizzard! Can old pain, and true love, bring them back together?
Lady Felicity’s Feud with Christmas – Kathy L Wheeler
(Part of the Rebel Lords of London series)
Christmas does not come easy for a young woman who has seen too much tragedy around the holidays. Lord Lexum is snared into obtaining Lady Felicity’s assistance for a Christmas event. Can he find a way to show Felicity Christmas also means hope?
A Partridge in a Pear Tree – Amanda Mc Cabe
A National Reader's Choice Award Finalist
Spend the holidays at a Regency England house party! Seeking an heir to her fortune, a widow challenges her family to a wild holiday scavenger hunt in the novella "A Partridge in a Pear Tree"--and two lost, lonely people find a lasting love and true family seeking the Twelve Days of Christmas...
Five Gold Rings – Kathy L Wheeler
(Part of the My True Love Gave to Me anthology from the Oklahoma Romance Writers.)
The noblest of England’s finest families vie for the honor to attend Pemberton’s Annual Christmas Ball—most especially those with daughters of a marriageable age. Something Bartholomew Dixon, Viscount Weston, in all accounts, typically avoids like the plague but for one idiotic wager. He’s acquired four of the five rings required to win…but what of the fifth?
Nine Ladies Dancing – Amanda McCabe
(the sequel to A Partridge in a Pear Tree!)
Spend Christmas in the magic of Regency England! The lovely, red-headed Gordon twins, studious Jane and vivacious Kitty, are excited to attend their first Kirkwood Christmas Ball at Swan Court—-and are filled with plans for the future. Kitty has dreams of marrying the Duke of Tremanton, while Jane thinks the handsome new vicar, Harry Phillips, might suit her. But Christmas has a magic of its own—and the universe has its own idea of romance! Will all end well, under the mistletoe?
As the suffragette movement sweeps England in 1912, Lady Cecilia Bates wants to march but ends up trailing a killer instead in the latest entry to the Manor Cat Mysteries.
Lady Cecilia of Danby Hall feels adrift. She couldn’t be less interested in helping to plan the church's upcoming bazaar. Instead, what excites her most is the Woman’s Suffrage Union meeting she has just attended.
Inspired by the famous and charismatic leader of the group, Mrs. Amelia Price, Cecilia is eager to join the Union—if she can hide it from her parents, that is. But when Mrs. Price is found dead at the foot of the stairs of her home, her Votes for Women sash torn away, Cecilia knows she must attend to a more urgent matter: finding the killer. With the help of her lady’s maid Jane and intelligent cat Jack, she hopes to play her part in earning women’s equality by stopping the Union’s dangerous foe.
And Pippa says welcome!
