The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-23 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAY.

On Saturday there was a brilliant reception of about
1,500 persons at St. James's Palace, in honour of the
royal birthday, which was fully equal in every respect to
any of the courts Her Majesty has held for a similar cele-
bration, and was above all others distinguished by the
first appearance of Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal
publicly in any state ceremonial. The Princess accompa-
nied the Queen and Prince Albert from Buckingham
Palace, and was placed during the reception on the left
hand of the Prince. Addresses were presented to Her
Majesty. The dresses worn by the ladies were of the most
elegant, and some of them of the most magnificent descrip-
tion, it being understood that, as the birthday drawing-
room is the drawing-room par excellence, the utmost
resources of the toilet should be displayed in all their
splendour. Fashion, so omnipotent everywhere else, is
circumscribed in its dominions at Court, and, therefore,
drawing-rooms generally present much the same aspect.
It is principally in the difference and in the quality of the
material, the taste and variety of the trimming, and in
the display of jewels, that one state reception can excel
another. A great number of ladies seemed determined to
mark the celebration of the birthday by coining in white,
with long trains of plain white glace silk. To no other
reason could the great prevalence of white dresses
be attributed ; no presentations being permitted, there
could be no debutantes. In nothing more was the
influence of fashion seen than in the adoption of plain
glace silks by so many of the ladies for their trains,
instead of the brocaded silks which were almost universal
last season. The admirers of the respective fabrics seemed
about equally divided, and that which the prevailing
authorities declare to be the " newest," will, we suppose,
finally be pronounced the mode. The Viscountess Palmers-
ton wore an exceedingly beautiful dress, the train espe-
cially so; it was of green moire, brocaded with silver,
with a headdress in which diamonds were mixed with
green leaves with a very charming effect. The Countess
of Clarendon wore a train and dress (or, in Court par-
lance, petticoat) of the same colour and material, pink
silk, a novelty in Court costume which seems to be grow-
ing in favour. The Duchess of Inverness wore a train of
the Stuart tartan in velvet. The petticoat, or dress, was
of white lace, over white satin. This dress had a novel
and very pretty effect, and attracted a deal of admiration.
The Countess of Waldegrave (Frances) wore a magnificent
dress of the most costly point-lace, with a lofty diadem of
diamonds, and a profusion of other jewels. The Mar-
chioness of Ailesbury wore a train and dress of white
tulle over white silk, spangled with gold, and embroidered '
with small flowers in the most brilliant colours. Her
ladyship displayed a necklace of large emeralds and
diamonds, and a diadem of diamonds. The Marchioness
of Hastings appeared in a dress of silver brocade. Mrs.
Strutt, with a dress of white silk, wore a train of green,
brocaded in gold. Lady Ashburton wore a petticoat and
train of the same colour, amber. This dress was simple
in its design, but very rich in its effect. The Countess
Walewski displayed perhaps the greatest novelty in orna-
mental trimming, and that was on a very pretty white
dress, relieved with light blue. There were a series of
flounces formed with ostrich feathers. That our readers
may understand how this was managed, they must imagine
the feather stripped off from its pen, and then laid longi-
tudinally round the dress, so that the tendrils, so to speak,
of the feather drooped . downwards. There were a
great number of these flounces, headed by rtichings
of ribbon, and elaborated with true Parisian taste.
The countess wore a very full wreath of flowers round her
head, of blue and white. Viscountess Barrington wore a
train and dress of the same colour and material, which
looked very well. The colour was light blue. The Earl
of Derby was prevented from paying his respects to her
Majesty by indisposition, but the countess and his
daughter, Lady Emma Stanley, were present. Lady Emma
wore a very tasteful, though simple, dress, the two colours
being cerise and white. The train was of white satin,
ornamented with cerise ribands, and a few flowers of the
same brilliant colour. The petticoat was of tulle, and, like
the train, the corsage was ornamented with cerise ribands.
The head dress was of brilliant cerise flowers and white
feathers. The Rajah of Coorg, and the son and grandson
of Tippoo Saib, Prince Gholam Mahommed and Prince
Peron Shah, in all their oriental magnificence of costume,
were present to render homage to the Queen. But,
perhaps, the gentleman whose appearance at Court pro-
duced the greatest sensation, was a diplomatist who was in
the full maturity of his official career half a century
and who, at the age of 01, and in an official uniform now
quite forgotten, attended to pay his dutiful respects to
the Queen, at the birthday drawing-room on Saturday.
This was Sir Robert Adair, Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of the Bath, and the representative of England at
the Court of' Vienna in the year 1806. Sir Robert ob-
tained the Order of the Bath for concluding the peace
with the Ottoman Porte in 1800. As might naturally he
expected, the attendance of naval officers was remarkably
scanty. • On the other hand, the attendance of officers of
the militia and county services was unusually large, which,
with the gay uniforms of the Light Cavalry of the East
India Company's service, produced quite a sufficient variety
in the costumes of the gentlemen. The reception occupied
about an hour and a half, and Her Majesty and the Prince
' cheers of the people assembled in the Park,
retrArned to Buckingham Palace amidst the enthusiastic