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Jewel History: Her Majesty’s State Ball (1855)

05.03.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Queen Victoria, painted in watercolors by Winterhalter, ca. 1855

“Her Majesty’s State Ball”

(originally appeared in the Observer, 14 May 1855)

The Queen [1], on Wednesday, gave a state ball, to which a party of between 1600 and 1700 were invited, and for which the whole of the state rooms of Buckingham Palace were appropriately and brilliantly illuminated.

The three entrances were arranged as follows: the royal family alighted at the garden entrance; the foreign ministers, privy counsellors, and officers and ladies of the royal household at the Pimlico entrance; and the rest of the company at the grand entrance. The royal family were ushered, on their arrival, to the White Drawing Room. All the other guests assembled in the picture gallery and the promenade gallery, which, for the first time, was opened for a state ball.

The Yeomen of the Guard were on duty on the staircase and in the Grand Hall, under the command of Captain Sir John Kincaid, the Exon in Waiting. A Guard of Honour of the Guards was stationed in front of the palace, with the band of the regiment.

The Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, photographed ca. 1860

Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge [2] and the Princess Mary [3] arrived at a quarter before ten o’clock, attended by Lady Sutfield and Major Home Purves, and were received by the Maids of Honour and the Grooms and Equerries in Waiting. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge [4] was attended by the Hon. James Macdonald and Colonel Tyrwhitt.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha [5] was attended by le Conseiller Samwer and Baron de Treskow. His Highness the Maharajah Duleep Singh [6] was also present. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Albert [7] left the White Drawing Room shortly before ten o’clock, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess Mary, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Their Serene Highnesses the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg [8] and the Princess Adelaide [9] and Prince Victor of Hohenlohe [10].

The Queen wore a dress of pink tulle over pink silk, trimmed with five flounces of white blonde, and ornamented with bouquets of pink roses and white jessamine and diamonds. Her Majesty’s headdress was composed of diamonds and pink roses.

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a dress of grey glace silk, covered with beautiful white Brussels lace to within a short distance of the bottom, which was trimmed with a triple border of white and gray marabout feathers looped up with rosettes of silver crepe. The body was trimmed with Brussels lace to correspond. The stomacher was covered with sapphires and diamonds; the necklace and the tiara were en suite [11]. Her Royal Highness, in addition to the tiara, wore white and gray marabouts in her hair.

The Princess Mary of Cambridge wore a dress of blue tulle over a rich silk glace petticoat, trimmed with bunches of pink roses and tulle. The body was also trimmed with roses. The stomacher was ornamented with diamonds. The necklace, pearls and diamonds. The Princess wore round her head a wreath of pink roses having diamond stars intermixed.

Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, ca. 1855

The Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg wore a dress of white satin, trimmed with riband. The necklace, diamonds. Her Serene Highness’s headdress was formed of a garland of flowers and diamond ornaments. The Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe wore a pink satin dress, trimmed with pink tulle and flowers. Her Serene Highness wore a garland of flowers to correspond with the dress.

The Marquis of Breadalbane, K.T., Lord Chamberlain; Earl Spencer, K.G., Lord Steward; Lord Ernest Bruce, Vice-Chamberlain; and the Earl of Mulgrave, Treasurer of the Household, conducted Her Majesty and the Prince to the ballroom, the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting, and afterwards the general company, following the royal circle. A quadrille was formed, and the Queen opened the ball with the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at ten o’clock.

Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, ca. mid 19th century

The quadrille bands in the ballroom and the throne room played a selection of the newest and most fashionable dance music during the evening. In the intervals of the dancing the company retired for refreshment to the Green Drawing Room, and also to the new promenade gallery. This gallery has an arched glass ceiling, spanning the whole width of the apartment, which is divided into seven compartments by ribs of stucco, enriched with architectural ornaments. The glass is ground and ornamented with a very elegant pattern. The mode of illumination is by external lights of Cannel gas; the rays pass through the ceiling and light the gallery in a very novel and effective manner. All the doors leading into the gallery are panelled in looking-glass with very handsome gilt mouldings.

The sculptured white marble chimney-piece was fitted with choice and beautiful plants in flower. This and the picture gallery are connected by a small anteroom, also new, having a miniature dome — the walls, cornice, and ceiling of which are adorned with colours heightened with gilding, producing the utmost richness and variety of effect of which the modern style of decoration is capable. The room was lighted with gilt branches filled with wax lights.

Supper was served on the state service of gold plate. A lofty buffet lined with crimson was erected in the supper room opposite the entrance, on which, among a very numerous selection of rare and beautiful specimens of gold plate, were the magnificent epergne, known as the “Prince of Wales’s Epergne,” and an extremely curious ancient gold dish, of large size and oblong form, from America, and called the “Mexican Dish.”

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, photographed ca. 1854

A profusion of roses in full bloom placed in golden vases ornamented the buffet and tables, the whole being brilliantly lit with waxlights in candelabra and sconces of silver gilt.

The invitations were numerous, and the company were very distinguished.

NOTES

1. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819-1901) was a few weeks shy of her 36th birthday at the time of this state ball. She had been on the throne for nearly eighteen years. She and Prince Albert had been married for more than a decade, and they had eight children. The last, Princess Beatrice, would be born two years later. Shortly after this ball, Victoria and Albert embarked on their famous 1855 state visit to France.

2. Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge (1797-1889), born Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, was Queen Victoria’s aunt by marriage. She was 57 years old at the time of this state ball. Her husband, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (the seventh son of King George III) had been dead for almost five years.

3. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (1833-1897) was Queen Victoria’s first cousin. Twenty-one at the time of this ball, she was the youngest child of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel. Eleven years later, she married Prince Francis of Teck; they were the parents of Queen Mary.

4. Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904) was Queen Victoria’s first cousin. He was the eldest son of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, and he had succeeded to the Cambridge dukedom on his father’s death nearly five years earlier. At the time of this state ball, he was 36 years old, almost the exact contemporary of the Queen. In 1847, George had violated the Royal Marriages Act by marrying an actress, Sarah Fairbrother, without seeking the Queen’s permission. George and Sarah already had three sons together, all of whom became military officers: Colonel George FitzGeorge, Rear Admiral Sir Adolphus FitzGeorge, and Colonel Sir Augustus FitzGeorge. By 1855, the Duke had an illegal wife, three illegitimate children, and a mistress, Louisa Beauclerk.

5. Prince Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818-1893) was Queen Victoria’s brother-in-law and first cousin. He was the elder son of Prince Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; his younger brother, Prince Albert, married Victoria in 1840. Ernst and Albert’s father was the brother of Victoria’s mother, Victoire. The younger Ernst had inherited the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dukedom on his father’s death in 1844. By the time of this state ball, he was 36 years old and had been the Duke for eleven years. In 1842, he had married Princess Alexandrine of Baden; she appears not to have accompanied him to this ball. Their marriage was childless, probably because of venereal diseases contracted by Ernst before their wedding, and Ernst was not a faithful husband.

6. Maharajah Duleep Singh (1838-1893) was the last ruler of the Sikh Empire. He was sent into exile in England in 1854, and he was only 16 when he attended this state ball a few months later. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert doted on him, even staying with the royal family at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. He was painted shortly after his arrival by Winterhalter, whose portraits of the British royal family were famous. Not long after this ball, he took a tour of the European continent, settling afterward for a time in Scotland.

7. Prince Albert of the United Kingdom (1819-1861), born Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was Queen Victoria’s husband. He was 35 years old in May of 1855. The couple had been married for fifteen years at the time of this court ball, and eight of their nine children had already been born. Two years later, Victoria would give him the title of Prince Consort; in December 1861, he died, sending Victoria and her court into mourning for decades.

8. Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1807-1872), born Princess Feodora of Leiningen, was the elder half-sister of Queen Victoria. She was 47 at the time of this ball. She had been married to Prince Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg since 1828, but although she left Britain for Germany when Victoria was only ten, the sisters had a close relationship. Feodora visited Britain often, bringing her children with her. At the time of this ball, all of her surviving children were unmarried; her second child, Princess Elise, had died five years earlier.

9. Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1835-1900) was the fifth child of Princess Feodora and, therefore, a niece of Queen Victoria. She was 19 years old at the time of this state ball. Three years earlier, she had caused a minor family crisis when Napoleon III, who had just become Emperor of France, asked for her hand in marriage. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were displeased by the idea of their niece being used to shore up the legitimacy of the shaky French throne, and Adelaide’s parents declined the offer. In 1856, Adelaide married Duke Friedrich VIII of Schleswig-Holstein; one of their daughters, Princess Augusta Viktoria, would eventually marry one of Victoria and Albert’s grandsons, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

10. Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1833-1891) was the fourth child of Princess Feodora and, therefore, Queen Victoria’s nephew. He was 21 years old at the time of this state ball. Although he was born and raised in Germany, Victor made his life in Britain. He had joined the Royal Navy in 1848, and at the time of this ball, he had recently been promoted to lieutenant. Six years later, he married an Englishwoman, Laura Seymour, who was given the title of Countess von Gleichen by Victor’s cousin (and Prince Albert’s elder brother), the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

11. These are the famous Cambridge sapphires, which were later inherited by the Duchess’s granddaughter, Queen Mary. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent received the sapphires from Queen Mary as a wedding present; her descendants have sold off some pieces of the set, including the original tiara, but they still own some of the sapphires today.

Jewel History: On Going to Court (1900)

04.25.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, ca. 1887 (Wikimedia Commons)

“On Going to Court”

(originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Press, 9 Apr 1900)

Going to court costs money. A married woman’s costume and accessories often come to $500 or very much more, and a girl’s generally costs $250 [1]. A court train is of great length; it must rest on the ground to the extent of three yards and a half, and is often six yards long from end to end by three yards wide. It used invariably to be made of the richest velvet, brocade, or satin; but last year a fashion was started in favor of gauze trains. Plumes worn on the head are compulsory; three white feathers for a married woman and two for a girl. In deep mourning black feathers are used. White tulle veils or lace lappets must be worn with the white feathers, and black with the black plumes. The bodice must be low, with short sleeves. Formerly this rule was rigidly enforced, but of late years many women have the bodice cut square and some venture upon elbow sleeves. In cases of serious ill-health, the Queen [2] allows a high gown to be worn, but a special permit has to be obtained beforehand from the Lord Chamberlain.

A diamond tiara should be worn, and, of course, necklace, earrings, brooches, etc., while many people wear unique ornaments, such as a diamond girdle, jeweled shoulder-straps, or a multitude of stars fastened on their gowns and train. Long white gloves are obligatory, or black gloves for deep mourning. Tan, light gray, etc., are inadmissible. A girl’s presentation gown is invariably white, as is that of a young married woman; indeed, in these days of eternal youth, many mothers and grandmothers don pure white for their court costumes.

A court dress made by Worth, ca. 1890s (Wikimedia Commons)

The mode of procedure as regards presentations is simple. A lady wishing to be presented must apply at the Lord Chamberlain’s office at St. James’s Palace for the necessary cards, which should be duly filled with the required information, namely, the lady’s name and address, and that of her father or husband, as the case may be. The lady making the presentation must sign the cards to the effect that she proposes doing so. These cards, the debutante must carefully take with her to the palace on the important day. Once a lady has been presented, it is unnecessary for her to notify beforehand to the Lord Chamberlain her intention of attending a drawing room.

A drawing room usually begins at 3 o’clock, but many hours before the appointed time, all approaches to Buckingham Palace are crowded with carriages, and filled by an eager, excited mass of spectators, waiting to see the rank, fashion, and beauty of London on their way to the Queen’s Drawing Room. The scene in the Mall is brilliant and amusing and shows a London crowd in its pleasantest aspect. Smart carriages, splendid horses, pretty women, dressed and jeweled to perfection, and — lining the route — an admiring, good-natured, outspoken populace. “Pretty dear, don’t she look a beauty?” “Ain’t she a one-er?” and similar remarks are heard on all sides. Pale, pinched faces and red, swarthy ones are pressed close to carriage windows, and many funny incidents occur. It is on record that a well-known countess, not young, but of brilliant coloring, put her head out of the window to give an order to the coachman, when she was unceremoniously kissed on the cheek by a greatly daring “rough!” And this scene goes on for hours.

“After the Drawing Room: A Visit to the Photographer” by Arthur Hopkins; originally published in the Graphic in May 1895. Note that the debutante wears the obligatory short sleeved evening dress with a long train and ostrich feather headdress (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Some ladies, such as our country cousins, or the mothers of expectant debutante daughters, love to be early on the scene, and actually take their place “in the rank” as early as 11 in the morning. A funny feature of the affair is that luncheon must, of necessity, be eaten en route. Exhausted nature is refreshed by biscuits, sandwiches, and a pull from a flask, by fair ones dressed in velvet, with diamond tiaras and hothouse bouquets.

There are two entrances to the palace — the great central gateway used by people in general, and another, situated outside Buckingham Gate, which is reserved for those who have the privilege of entree. The entree is strictly limited, and is the right of only a select few. These are the entire diplomatic circle, cabinet ministers and their wives, and the members of the Queen’s household. Besides these privileged persons, Her Majesty can and does bestow it on a favored few. All such are received by the Queen before the general circle and in strict order of precedence. With the general company no such rule of precedence is observed: the Duchess of Distinction, from Belgrave Square, and Mrs. Smith, from the suburbs, are on an equal footing in this respect. They enter the presence chamber in accordance with the actual order of their arrival and with no respect to persons. It is as well to mention that the lady making the presentation must be present at the drawing room, but she need neither accompany the debutante nor pass the royal presence at the same moment.

Agnes Melanie Dickson, photographed after her presentation at court, ca. 1890s (Wikimedia Commons)

Arrived at the palace, the lady to be presented, leaves her cloak in the cloak room, a vast apartment, where women servants — the palace housemaids, in fact — are in attendance. She then makes her way up the grand staircase, carrying her train carefully folded on her arm, for naturally such an appendage cannot be allowed to trail. She passes along the corridor, handing one card to a page-in-waiting, and then enters the first salon. All the rooms and passages of the Queen’s palace are lofty, imposing, and furnished and decorated in a style of heavy magnificence. The gilding is profuse, and the walls, chairs, and sofas are all upholstered in rich red brocade. Valuable paintings hang on the walls. The carpets are thick and soft, and of the same deep red. The gentlemen-at-arms, in their splendid uniforms, stand at the doors of each room and close the gilt barriers when they consider the saloon sufficiently full.

A lady on being presented to Her Majesty, kisses her hand, courtesying very low. She should lift the Queen’s hand, which is extended for that purpose, on the palm of her own hand and kiss it gently and very lightly. A common mistake is to begin the courtesy too soon, and too far away from the Queen. The exceptions to this rule are: all peeresses; the daughters of dukes, marquesses, and earls; the wives of the eldest sons of peers of the above degrees; and the wives of the youngest sons of dukes and marquesses. All these ladies the Queen kisses on the cheek as the lowly bow before her. Foreign ladies are not expected to kiss the Queen’s hand. When the Princess of Wales or any other royal princess holds a drawing room, a lady who is not being presented courtesies only, and does not kiss hands. A court courtesy is not the slow, sweeping obeisance taught by dancing masters, but should be deep and quick; in fact, the common “charity bob.”

Mrs. Fox Powys, photographed before her presentation at court, 1904 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The reverence to the Queen over, a lady passes on, making a succession of these rapid courtesies, including as many royalties as possible, and then disappears from the throne, taking care on no account to turn her back on the royalties. When the last courtesy is completed, an official again folds the train, and places it on the lady’s arm. A lady who merely attends a drawing room does not, of course, kiss hands. The throne room is not a large apartment, and the chair of state, styled the throne, is on one side of it, in a central position. On this, the Queen is seated, for she is now unable to stand, and beyond her stand all the other royalties in strict order of precedence, the Princess of Wales being next to the Queen. If a princess holds a drawing room, she is not seated, but stands in front of the throne. Behind the throne, in a sort of semi-circle, stand high officials of the household: the Mistress of the Robes, who always wears black; the Master of the Horse; the Lord Steward; the Lady-in-Waiting, etc. A courtly crowd fills the other part of the throne room, facing the royal party. Here are the ambassadors and ministers, and their wives and daughters, some distinguished foreigners, officials of the court, gentlemen ushers, et hoc genus omne.

To a woman well-placed in society, the ordeal is lessened by the fact that the royalties know her personally, and the Prince and Princess of Wales and the other princes and princesses shake hands with her, and say a few gracious words in passing. The Queen herself sometimes shakes hands with a favored subject who has had the honor of a private presentation. Attendance at a drawing room is the privilege of the upper classes, nobility, gentry, and those engaged in great commercial enterprises. But the line is rigidly drawn at “retail” trade, no matter how wealthy, or well-born, or well-married the applicant may be.

NOTES

1. Comparing the value of money from previous eras with the value of money today is extremely difficult and inexact, but the costs described here ($250-500) would be, conservatively, around $7,280-$14,600.

2. In 1900, the monarch was Queen Victoria; this was the last year of her reign.

Jewel History: Diamonds Guarded Ingeniously (1888)

04.18.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The diamond and emerald tiara of the Duchess of Angouleme, on display with the French crown jewels in the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery (Wikimedia Commons)

“Diamonds Guarded Ingeniously”

(originally appeared in the New York Times, 21 Apr 1888)

When the French crown jewels were sold by auction last season [1], it is well known that the finest and most historical of the gems, including the famous Regent Diamond [2], were reserved, and these may now be seen in the Louvre in the gallery called after the well-known statue of Apollo, which is such a prominent object in it [3].

The Regent Diamond, on display with the French crown jewels in the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery (Wikimedia Commons)

Before these priceless gems were exposed, however, a committee of skilled officials and experts was appointed in order to decide on some plan for rendering their loss by theft virtually impossible.

The French crown jewels, on display in the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery (Wikimedia Commons)

And this is what the committee decided upon. The jewels are exhibited in a showcase, the glass plates of which are exceptionally thick and the iron framework of which is abnormally strong, and an attendant has been appointed to keep watch over the precious exhibit all day long.

Queen Marie Amelie’s diamond and sapphire parure, on display with the French crown jewels in the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery (Wikimedia Commons)

Should he have the slightest cause to suspect any visitor or visitors he has only to touch a button easily within his reach, whereupon the glass case promptly disappears from view and sinks into a specially-constructed shaft, over the top of which the same automatic machinery causes thick covers, formed of their metal plates, to close with a snap.

Empress Marie Louise’s diamond and emerald earrings and necklace, on display with the French crown jewels in the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery (Wikimedia Commons)

This ingenuity displayed in carrying out this plan is remarkable, and the fact that the clockwork apparatus has cost close upon £800 [4], will convey some idea of its complicated character.

NOTES

1. After the end of Napoleon III’s Second French Empire in 1870, France once again became a republic. Members of the National Assembly subsequently decided to auction the crown jewel collection, which consisted of the pieces that had survived the revolutions and wars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As this article notes, some pieces were retained for display in museums, including the Louvre. The rest of the jewels were sold in 1887.

2. The Regent Diamond is a 140.64 carat gemstone that has been a part of the French crown jewel collection since 1717. The diamond was found in India and later sold to the Duke of Orleans, who served as regent for King Louis XV. The stone was stolen during the 1789 revolution, but it was later recovered. Napoleon had the diamond set on his sword; later, it was worn in a diadem by Empress Eugenie. The diamond has been on display at the Louvre since 1887.

3. The Gallery of Apollo today is part of the Louvre Museum. It houses the display of the French crown jewel collection. When the palace was still a royal residence, the gallery was destroyed by fire in 1661 and subsequently rebuilt on orders from King Louis XIV.

4. It’s extremely difficult to estimate the equivalence between historical currency value and today’s money, but the most conservative estimate places the work for the gallery at around £90,000.